audio-radio-video-disco-micro-nano
by ItzMDF
Summary: Music can be described as a medium. Whether good or bad, it can used to convey an emotion or message. And Alastor is about to have a rough time. (Violence,suffering and more!) [Part 1 of Alastor's Tragicomedy]
1. Vinyls

**hey, guess who fell in love with another series**

**This story was a spur of the moment and quite quick to be thought out, and it's "torture the radio boy", so I gonna have some fun.**

**This was also inspired by SkipBack's Hotel of Shadow AU, so read that if you will.**

**Now, let's get to the story, eh?**

**UPDATE: 3/5/20**

**Hey! This story has been revised with some minor and major plot points changed. Best you catch up on the new fic.**

**As always, please read, enjoy and review.**

* * *

How many years had it been?

Alastor didn't really care, as he remained still in his hotel room.

It had been at least a few years since the hotel had been in operation, and as long as he was monitoring said hotel. It had been expanded to help accommodate numerous guests amongst its near warped levels. It also served as a partial hospital for a brief period after the exterminations.

Contrary to his (and in all honesty, everyone else's) beliefs, the hotel was successful. There were actual sinners that were able to be redeemed and served to a point that the hotel could be a success.

On the other hand, the redeeming was quite uncommon given a majority of the hotel residents were only there for the free food and rooms.

However, it was still technically a success. Alastor was fine with that.

At this point in time, he was simply lounging around in his room. He could be doing anything, like playing some musical instrument, or just wreaking havoc in general.

No, Alastor was mostly doing nothing.

He wasn't sure why he ws doing nothing when Hell had so much to offer. Maybe it was because something was off recently.

Without anything that he would consider entertaining, he made the decision to simply check his luggage.

Since he had his own room in the hotel, he was able to stay for as long he liked. However, he hadn't exactly unpacked everything other than the basic necessities or whatever he felt like using.

After digging through a bag of clothing and nothing more, he came across something he had a very vague memory of.

The item in question was a well kept and good condition large box that looked it would be in World War 1. Alastor was initially reluctant to open it as he had no idea what it was.

But he was very powerful, so what was there to worry?

As soon as he managed to get the box open, he had to stare in awe.

Inside the box were stacks upon stacks of vinyl records all wrapped in their album covers. He recognized a few. Some notable jazz musicians that he grew up with, some jazz musicians he discovered much later and the ones that seemed be not jazz such as acoustic albums and more orchestral pieces.

Alastor grabbed the one that was the most jarring amongst the collection.

It was a mostly yellow colour with the exception of a black minimalist radio tower in the center.

The musician's name also struck a chord within the Radio Demon.

"Idosing." he mumbled to himself as he read the typewriter font at the corner of the cover.

Idosing was a name that seemed familiar to him. Was it someone he knew?

Digging through the vinyls (delicately), he found that there were about 13 albums from said musician.

What was it about this musician that attracted Alastor?

He made the search for a record player around his room, and after what felt like a hour of searching, he found a modern record player and a pair of earphones.

Now, he never cared for modern technology and thought that they were a bit tedious. However, this was the only exception that actually benefited him. Being able to have the music essentially blast into his ears was an experience like no other.

Charlie introduced the deer to the apparatus and he'd been using it ever since. He didn't own any vinyls (at least before he found the ones here), and often borrowed vinyls from some of his acquaintances.

Once he managed to set up everything on his dresser next to him, the Radio Demon lied down on his bed.

With only his hand moving, he placed the needle down onto the record.

Now, there wasn't exactly a word that could the describe the moment. The best way was through a phrase.

Alastor felt like he was hit by a train.

Near distorted electric guitars and bass filled his ears that essentially exploded in his head and made Alastor nearly jump out of his bed.

And with that, he understood that Idosing was a rock musician. No doubt about it.

Now, he had never really cared for the genre in general. He personally thought that it was mostly noise and a bunch of screaming.

But this? This was a entirely different than the usually radio noise that he knew from numerous sources.

Sure, you had the electric guitars, bass and the pounding drums that Alastor would normally consider stupid distortion, but it strangely made him focus towards the instrumentation. A single thought grazed his mind that completely contradicted anything he thought before.

_This man can play._

And when the musician's voice kicked in, he was out... in a way.

Idosing had a voice that could high notes and gravely lows and a near perfect flow with the instrumentation behind him. It was mesmerizing hearing him sing in a thoughtful and purely emotional manner.

Alastor wasn't even sure he was listening to a single song anymore. He was probably on the next one but was mostly too into the noise. He lied there for around a few minutes at minimum.

Then, the heavy rock music stopped, being replaced with audio of birds chirping and leaves rustling.

Alastor was initially intrigued as the footsteps of someone walking on grass began sounding closer.

Then, the soft notes of an piano brought him back into reality. This went on for a minute or so, until the song picked itself up.

It was a strange mix of an orchestral piano piece, a soft acoustic song and electronica. It helped build the rhythm sections to accentuate the soft singing of the musician.

Idosing sung in a higher and more emotional tone for the chorus, and it finally sent Alastor over the edge. A smile that would be used to express sympathy slowly brought him into a slight shaking state, trying to keep his composure.

As the song continued, soft whimpers exited his lips. Tears were running down his face and neck as the song grew in intensity.

When the song was over, he plucked the earphones out of his ears and pulled the needle of the record player. He gently placed everything back where it was minutes prior. Once that was over, he quickly entered the bathroom.

Looking at the mirror, Alastor was a mess. Dried tears were enveloped down his cheeks and neck. With the sink running, he washed his face swiftly.

Alastor let out an exasperated sigh, as he closed the faucet. He looked at the mirror again only to realized that he wasn't smiling, having a neutral expression on his face.

He forced himself to smile, revealing his sharp teeth into the mirror. But he could see that it was faltering.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he gritted his teeth as a memory slowly emerged from his subconscious.

He remembered who Idosing was now.

* * *

Alastor walked quietly around a small quiet area of Pentgram City.

This particular part of Pentagram City was originally a small safe haven for newer sinners to hide. But with the recent exterminations, operations have shifted to an unknown part of the city.

Why was the Radio Demon here?

Mostly he wanted to find any unfortunate souls to torture, but given that everyone had left long ago, he was walking a ghost town.

But the soft strums of an acoustic guitar caught his attention. There was someone here.

As he followed the direction of the music, the sound of singing also began to be clearer as he got closer.

Soon enough, he arrived at what looked like an amphitheater.

Entering the venue, he looked at the stage to see the musician.

From what he could see, the musician was male judging from his appearance. He had a sort of zebra motif to him, wearing a zebra striped coat and tufts of ears similar to his own. Small strands of white hair donned in a line in the center of his jet black hair. He wore a pair of sunglasses, one side with a white frame and black lens, and the other a black frame and white tinted lens.

In terms of what he was doing, he was singing by himself as he sat on a wooden stool. However, behind him two acoustic guitars played like being played by ghosts, with noticable plucking.

Alastor remained still, observing the phenomenon in front of him.

Trying to sing along would be impossible, given the nearly incomprehensible lyrics that the musician was singing.

The song ended, and Alastor clapped wholeheartedly, directing the musician's attention to him.

"Hello! What's your name?" Alastor perked up.

"Idosing." he said as he jumped down the stage.

"Hm?"

"I-D-O-S-I-N-G."

"I do sing?"

"I-doh-sing."

"Strange name, especially for a musician." Alastor responded.

"Who are you, exactly?" Idosing asked.

"My name is Alastor, the Radio Demon." he responded, wholeheartedly, "The fear that lurks across Hell's radio broadcasts."

The zebra tilted his head, "So, you're the reason why there's no good rock music on the radio?"

"Bah, I don't like what the 'rock' screams about! I prefer jazz, a much more contemporary music form."

Alastor wasn't sure if it was real or not, but for a very brief moment, Idosing appeared to glitch, with a pitch black aura surrounding him. His neck appeared to have broken or ripped so that his left temple rested on his shoulder. His sunglasses were partially moved to reveal his left eye, which showed a black void with a misshapen white orb for an eye. His face was stuck in a twisted grin. Alongside that, a very brief jolt of white noise and ringing filled his ears.

However, that didn't shake the deer demon.

"Nice try, Ido." Alastor said sarcastically.

"Please do not call me that." Idosing stated, though amused at it.

Alastor wanted to torture this person, definite viable target for him. He could just imagine what he could to do this person.

"Say, you said ya like jazz?" Idosing suddenly perked up.

"Why, yes indeed."

The musician quickly walked to where a few instrument cases that were stacked against each other.

"You enjoy Louis Armstrong?" Idosing's voice echoed partially.

"Satchmo? Of course!" Alastor said enthusiastically as he walked over to where the musician was.

Idosing was delicately removing several vinyl records from a cardboard box. He recognized the Louis Armstrong records but he could see a few more in the box that were probably the musician's own.

"It's not the entire discography, but it's quite a few."

Alastor then snapped his fingers, which made the vinyls disappear to his Radio Tower.

"Hey, now, I need some payment as well." Idosing said.

"Ah, sorry. What would you want? Fame? Drugs? Sex? I can give you all of that."

Idosing smiled, "I just want you to stand still."

"Strange but sure, I'll oblige-"

Without warning, Alastor felt a sudden sting in his right shoulder and looked over at it. There was a small cut across his shoulder, which tore his suit. He looked behind him and saw a small knife embedded into the wall.

"Nice shot. If you were trying to kill me, then you've failed." Alastor stated sternly.

Idosing remained there, almost observing Alastor. He broke into laughter, which was more of an old man coughing.

"Oh, I wouldn't like to kill you, yet. You seem like someone that would kill me first." Idosing said bluntly.

The sting in Alastor's shoulder began to worsen, evolving into an annoying pain.

"Well, that hurts." Alastor stated as he used his other hand to apply pressure on the wound.

"Hey, at least it works." Idosing said as he moved to the where the knife was.

After the musician retrieved the knife, he then retrieved two plastic chairs with him sitting in one of them and offering the other one to the Radio Demon.

Alastor was suspicious at first but he decided to sit anyway, because a token of gratitude was rare to come by in Hell.

"That's awfully kind of you. Especially in a place like this." Alastor said calmly. The wound appeared to have healed but there was still a deep red scar on his shoulder

"Hey, to be honest, it could be much worse." the musician said as he pulled the knife out again.

The knife glowed a distinct colour of white that Alastor unfortunately recognized. However, the usual time he saw that colour sheen, he might feel fearful and scared.

But fear was overshadowed by an impressed feeling.

"That's quite impressive." Alastor said. He didn't have anything else to say, but he continued smiling.

"Thanks." Idosing simply said, "It took a while to even make one of this quality, it's pure luck that I could get an angel spear."

Alastor thought about it, if this musician was able to make an angel spear into the average household weapon, he should get this man under his wing.

"Say, let's say I hire you as my hitman. I can get access to some angel spears on the black market. This should allow you to continue experiment with forging those weapons, I assume."

Idosing laughed, "Sounds too good to be true, but you seem genuine."

"Genuine since 1933." Alastor said as he put his hand out and a green flame emitted from it.

Idosing responded with reaching out his own hand and a white flame emitted from his hand. Their hands connected, and their deal was set.

All while smiling wholeheartedly.

* * *

Alastor wasn't sure what he was feeling.

He was in a great mood now, smiling a bit more coyly. However, he had a very strange feeling.

It was somehow this weird respect for Idosing, almost like he was a best friend. But as far as he was concerned, his only friends were Husk and Niffty.

So why he had forgotten he had another one?

The memory of what was their first meeting seemed so unfamiliar, but familiar in its own way.

He opened just a bit of hid suit to check on where the scar was. It still existed, a small scar over his shoulder. It wasn't much and it wasn't noticeable by any means.

Alastor quickly handled his emotions and continued smiling, focusing on his good mood. He then readjusted himself so that he looked as posh as he usually was.

With that, he exited his hotel room and bumped into Charlie.

"Oops, sorry." Charlie said.

"Oh, don't worry, it was an accident." Alastor spoke in his cheery radio host voice.

"Oh, yeah." Charlie made a quick expression of confidence, "I actually wanted to find you."

"Why is that, dear?"

"Well, you've been missing, at least we thought you were, for the past hour or so." Charlie said.

_What?_

"Well, I just found some jazz records and I listened to one in full, I guess." Alastor swiftly said.

"That makes sense." Charlie quickly turned around, "I'll see you for the dinner reception tonight."

"No need to fret. I'll be there." Alastor replied.

Alastor quickly re-entered his room, without saying a word. He had listened to an entire album without realizing it?

The Radio Demon heaved a sigh. This was a mistake, but a minor one fortunately.

_Hopefully, it doesn't get worse than this._


	2. New Release

Alastor always wanted something.

Keeping an eye out for Idosing, he looked at the demon that had made the stupid decision of attempting to attack him.

"Please, Mr. Radio, I didn't mean it!" they pleaded.

Such a shame.

He could see that he was in his usual torture room within the Radio Tower, only accessible by him and nobody else.

A few knocks echoed from the door, "Hey, I'm here.", Idosing's muffled voice said.

Alastor went outside of the room and was greeted with Idosing holding a duffle bag.

"Ah, you're here."

"No shit, Sherlock. You wanted to test the things I've made on a live subject."

"Of course." Alastor replied, and Idosing began opening a pocket on the duffle bag and revealed a handful of weapons the musician had made.

The deer promptly grabbed the scalpel, since it was much more fun to cut precisely.

"Scalpel? That's the most fun of the ones here."

Alastor quickly re-entered the room, with Idosing following suit.

Without hesitation, the deer cut into the unfortunate demon which made them scream, much to his delight.

The incision was made on the sinner's abdomen and their guts proceeded to spill out, which horrified the sinner.

"Oh, God!"

"God has forsaken thou." Idosing murmured.

"Now, these, 'weapons', they can kill demons and sinners, right?" Alastor said to the musician.

"Well, yes, but the reason why is because the damage is much more intense and the wounds heal slower compared to anything else in Hell. The metal is quite literally poisonous against flesh, and once the heart stops, there's no coming back."

"Really? So that's how those things work." Alastor remarked.

He continued examining the scalpel, noting it's whitened glint, and ignoring the captured sinner going limp.

"Aw, he's dead." Idosing said.

"Shame, but that means some food for me."

"Raw, or cooked-?" Idosing began to say, but stopped the moment the Radio Demon sunk his teeth into the dead sinner's neck sucking whatever blood was left in them.

"Welp, that answers my question."

The memory faded as the deer proceeded to cannibalise what remained of the sinner with the zebra observing him.

* * *

Alastor wasn't sure who Idosing was.

Sure, he knew he was a musician and his own personal hitman, but the feeling that they were friends was unnerving him.

But no other memories other than his affiliation with Alastor could signify his friendship with the man.

The only other thing that would help him know Idosing was his music.

Obviously, it was easy given he had the musician's entire discography but he wasn't sure if he could handle the loudness of it all.

Unbelievably, he could.

While there were the moments of serenity when needed, a majority of it was controlled chaos in a way. It was a like a simple switch from screaming to softer singing on a dime.

Alastor couldn't help but almost be drawn into its madness. While there were more rock artists out there in Hell, he didn't get any of the appeal.

Maybe it was because this wasn't the conventional rock music? This was something entirely different.

But for the Radio Demon, his favorite record from the musician would be the acoustic album.

While its length was around an hour long, every second of it was worth it. Being the most emotional (excluding the wrath of the rest of the music), Alastor just couldn't help but cry.

Yes, crying. Tears, whimpers and sobbing. Alastor was doing that.

Maybe it was the lyrical content.

All of it was a mostly sincere message, whether more comforting or some things he wasn't willing to admit like missing people and depression.

But each time he listened to said album, he just couldn't help but break down. Every damn second of it was painful.

Alastor wasn't so sure why it hurt so badly, but after this particular spin, he was lying down in a fetal position on his bed. He cleaned the dry tears of his face, so he was just there.

His microphone looked at him with a sorrowful look but nothing came out of it. He stayed in this weird sense of confusion, sadness and fulfillment.

Strangely, he was feeling sleepy. Then again, he usually needed sleep after a year or so and it was around that time. He slept for at least a few hours or so before he's right back on his feet.

He drifted off into slumber, almost willingly.

Next thing, he knew he was dreaming.

Now, Alastor never really dreamed. Maybe in his previous life, but never had anything he would distinctly recall a dream.

But this was something he didn't expect.

Alastor appeared in the middle of a lush forest coloured in grey. He was able to distinctly remember the rustling of leaves, but no other sounds were heard.

Soon enough, the rustling of leaves began to become louder.

Alastor wasn't able to move from his position, so he had to only look at the direction of the sound.

The thing that was making the sound, came out of the bushes to the surprise of Alastor.

Appearing infront of him, a male human that was tall, having a fit but somewhat lanky build and nearly perfectly combed hair. He wore a relative simple white button shirt with dark red pants to beat.

The sense of famliarity was near overwhelming as the man cocked the hunting rifle...

...and aimed straight at him.

Without hesitation, the man shot in his direction, hitting something that wasn't him, fortunately. The hunter now beared a large smile, satisfied with his target.

Alastor turned around to see what the hunter did kill, only to see a deer dead amongst the greenery.

However, before he could process the scene, the barking of a dog sent a chill down his spine.

Now, he knew what the dream was.

The hunter was him in his previous life, and this was his unfortunate death. The hunter was also wary of the canine keeping a cautious stance.

The dog soon jumped out of the bushes, catching the hunter by the scruff of his shirt, taking him down. With that, the perspective of the dream changed.

He was now the hunter, and the dog wanted blood.

No control of his body, only eyes as he could only watch fruitlessly the dog just mauling his arms raised in a panic frenzy attempting to defend itself.

Alastor never felt so afraid in his life. He always hated dogs, but this was about as close as he could get, given this was how we died.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang throughout the forest. The dog was left dead with an exploded head. Blood, splintered bones and brain matter scattered and caking the hunter's attire. The hunter was limp, with a revolver in his hand.

Alastor would've heaved a sigh if he was capable of such a thing. He never liked the way he died, and this dream was that last dredge of it.

But a groan completely changed everything.

The hunter slowly took the canine corpse off of his body, mumbling some swear words.

"Oi, Al!"

_Huh?_, Alastor thought.

The voice was coming from what appeared to be another relatively young male around early 30s.

"You, alri'ght?" the man spoke.

"Yeah, fi'ne.", the hunter replied.

The hunter slowly stood up from his spot and grabbed his rifle and revolver which had been shot recently.

"I have to go do a show tomorrow, best I wash up." the hunter spoke.

The talking soon began to be muffled, as everything else faded away.

Alastor woke up pretty slowly.

The warmth of the bed, the pure tiredness of his body and the blur that was his vision.

The Radio Demon remained still in his bed just to process what he dreamt. It was somehow ripe in his mind. If that wasn't how he died, then how did he?

It was hard for him to make sense of the situation. He was fully awake now, unsure what to feel.

"Hey, smiles." Angel Dust spoke up.

Alastor turned to the direction the voice was and saw as the spider demon lazily sat on his room chair, drinking the average fast food beverage. Good thing he was smiling, he would've scared Angel Dust.

The deer demon quickly stood up, and walked over to Angel Dust.

"Just asking, how long do you need to sleep?" Angel Dust asked.

"A few hours.",he replied before promptly opening his hotel door and exiting quickly.

Why Angel Dust was in his room, was a question he knew the answer to, which was that he was there to keep an eye on him while he was asleep. He knew this from prior events.

Closing the door, he quickly covered his face with his hands to remove the fact he wasn't smiling.

The one secret he had was that he never smiled all the time. Only when necessary, such as in public or whenever around people. He can have a neutral expression only to himself and those who were very close to him, such as Husk or Niffty. People have always assumed that if he ever stopped smiling, something was wrong or someone really set him off.

He had this smile because what he had been doing for the past few decades. He only let it down when things didn't go his way.

Alastor took a sigh for a moment before easily forcing the smile he always had. He waltzed down the halls of the hotel, heading to the bar.

_Maybe a drink would be nice._

* * *

Hell wasn't just Pentagram City.

It had numerous other regions such other cities and nature regions such as a jungle, a few grassy plains and a desert.

The desert was quite far from the hustle and bustle of the city life, having to pass a few grassy plains.

And because it was Hell, it was more than the average desert.

A scorching hot sun that caked the landscape, a much higher chance of sand getting in the worst spots in your body and zero chance of finding a single oasis. Plus, terrifying animals and creatures call this dune wasteland a home, and there are plenty of them.

A trek across the desert will take many weeks or months. Only Lucifer knew how big the desert actually was, and nobody would dare even set foot in it, let alone even stay there.

So imagine the surprise, when you find one of the tallest sand dunes, that's probably the height of Mount Everest, to find someone camping there.

The man was obviously covered in the amount of clothing and enough bags to stay there for the rest of his life. A battered tent stood next to him, with it's fabric swaying in the wind.

He remained still, staring at the distant outline of the city that held many of Hell's residents. He kept his eyes on one of the tallest towers that stood in the city.

He chuckled slyly, a low monotone growl that echoed across the sand.

"3 more days. And Hell will break loose."


	3. No Surprises

The timer was now on zero.

The hotel took as many residents of Hell, that were willing to anyway, so that they would be alive for the next year.

Alastor never really cared for the exterminations, as he mostly stayed out of the way, as most Overlords would do.

For this particular extermination, he wanted to stay in his Radio Tower. He alternated between the hotel and his own private space, for each year since he joined.

The Radio Demon mostly observed the surroundings of Hell as the sirens blared throughout the area. He smiled as the angels slowly descended into the red landscape.

If there's one thing he wondered, he would wonder if all angels looked like the Exterminators.

They looked like they would belong in Hell, given their plastic masks, horns and thin appearance. But what made them truly feared was their weaponry. Their angelic spears were the only things that could kill demons in Hell, and every 365 days, they would go on and do the killings of as many of Hell's residents.

After this, they would fly back up into heaven.

Alastor remained still as he watched the angels go to work killing as much people as they could.

He caught sight of one dismembering several lesser demons. He couldn't help but enjoy the angel's handiwork tearing the demons to bits.

This was the point of where he would turn around, grab something to eat and just wait for all of this finish. He had just walked past his desk and was smiling as much he could be.

But then, his window shattered.

He tensed, in a bit of shock as to what even happened, to see his massive red tinted window in shambles.

He remained on high alert, thinking an Exterminator decided to come after him. He quickly observed his surroundings trying to see any.

Then, pain.

He fell back, with a loud thud, on to the floor. His chest was on fire and he felt like passing out. He grabbed the region where it hurt, only for his hand to go much farther than expected.

He glanced at his abdomen, and almost did pass out.

His skin and muscles had been torn apart by something, leaving a massive bloody crater in his chest. It appeared to stretch from his stomach to his left shoulder. He let out a groan, his body fruitlessly bleeding from his wounds.

He wanted to laugh but he caught sight of an Exterminator now perched in his view. It stood in a stance that looked like it was ready to kill him once and for all.

But the Exterminator didn't finish him off. Instead, it flew out of the window as quickly as Alastor caught it in his sight.

He was somehow alive, even with the gaping hole in his chest. He continued to smile as the world faded to black.

* * *

"Okay, guys, you know the drill." Charlie stated.

"Yeah, find any survivors." Angel Dust said.

"That's one way to put it." Vaggie said.

The trio were ready for the search for any survivors after the exterminations. It was a tradition that started just a year after the hotel started. While it would reel a few survivors and many new demons in hiding, the attempts were always successful. Every time, the survivors would usually have a high chance of redeeming themselves and that was something that Charlie would take as many as chances as she could.

Still, that would mean having scourge through numerous dead bodies, but it wasn't the worst thing in Hell. In fact, dead bodies are usually checked for any leftover angel spears, and there were scavengers around.

But fortunately, the corpses were slowly fading away and becoming the essence of Hell.

However, it became apparent that there were not alot of survivors around, there were a few in hiding that were willing to come to the hotel, but not a huge handful.

"Not a lot as last year." Angel Dust perked up.

"Yeah, I was hoping that there would be more." Charlie said.

Soon enough, they found a demon that was hiding in a abandoned restaurant, though maybe recently. The poor demon was obviously traumatized from the extermination meaning it was a new one.

Once the trio were able to calm them down, it was able to volunteer to head to the hotel.

"Thanks." they said.

"You're welcome." Charlie replied.

"Oh, and before I forget, I saw the Radio Tower's window shatter just around the time I hid." they said.

"Wha?"

"Just telling ya."

The demon quickly walked away to the hotel.

"The Radio Tower's window broke?" Angel Dust said in a bit of shock.

"Should we check it out?" Charlie asked.

Vaggie quickly looked out of the window of the restaurant, "Seems like it repaired itself."

"Let's just go see."

* * *

None of them had ever been in the Radio Tower.

All that they did know was that it was Alastor's personal space. No one knew what was exactly inside and the only other people that have been inside such as Husk, Alastor and Niffty wouldn't exactly describe the place in detail.

But what they weren't expecting was machinery.

Several red machines that were arranged in the shape of a maze at the bottom of the radio tower. Each machine held vinyl records within them, all unlabeled. Some of them seemed to playing, possibly some of the radio broadcasts that Alastor had recorded over the years. In what appeared to be the center of it all, a white spiral staircase made of what appeared to be metal led to the tower's top, just above their line of sight. It slightly towered over the machines but it was still visible from where they were. It disappeared into a tight column of sorts, leaving a tiny section of white stairs.

Charlie and Vaggie stood in awe at what was brought before them, as Angel Dust observed the machines.

"So, this is how he does it." the spider muttered.

But he soon tensed.

"Is something wrong?" Charlie asked.

"Do you hear something?" Angel Dust replied.

Vaggie walk to the side of Angel Dust and she too, tensed.

"Yeah, it sounds like radio static." Vaggie said.

"Though, it feels distant." Angel said.

"Probably at the top." Charlie perked up, "So, let's head there."

Once they managed to navigate the maze of machines, they began to scale the spiraling staircase. The sound of them stepping on the metal steps echoed through out the Radio Tower.

Soon enough, they reached the top, to a door slightly ajar.

Charlie opened it to a room that as large as a stage.

There was a desk, with a single microphone hooked up to several wires that led to numerous old radio station equipment. There were other rooms that seemed to be a kitchen, a library and possibly a bedroom.

And in the center of it all, Alastor lay there bleeding.

"Oh no." Vaggie muttered.

Charlie and Angel Dust essentially rushed forward to Alastor, the sound of static somehow at its loudest and softest.

"Alastor! Can you hear me?" Charlie exclaimed.

Alastor groaned in response. The trio looked at the deer's wounds. A large gaping hole in his chest stretching from the right bottom corner to the top left corner of his abdomen.

"I can see his lungs. He's breathing." Angel Dust stuttered.

Alastor seemed to get a bit more responsive, but he seemed to whimper. His smile was mixed with a confused expression.

"We'll get back to the hotel, now." Charlie said quickly to Vaggie.

"Angel, try and get something to cover him." Vaggie said as she and the princess holstered the deer onto their shoulders.

The spider managed to retrieve a white towel, and quickly wrapped Alastor in it. The Radio Demon, began whining some incomprehensible things.

"It hurts." he mumbled, radio voice breaking.

"I know, Al, hang in there."

Alastor suddenly let out a scream which maybe one of the most painful things he'd ever done and his breathing became much more heavier.

"Ah, fuck." Angel Dust said.

"Okay, we need to gag him, just so that nobody could hear him." Vaggie said.

"That sounds violent." Charlie said.

Alastor whined, to which made them all realize it was their best bet.

Angel Dust quickly grabbed a waistcoat and gagged Alastor, making a tight fit. The deer let out a muffled scream, audible to anyone close, but not loud enough to be heard across Hell.

"Okay, let's get moving." Charlie stated.

The trio made their way down with the deer being supported by Charlie and Vaggie with Angel Dust behind them to keep an eye out.

Hell had numerous alleyways that no one in particular would even use and the hotel staff often used these side streets to navigate their way to the hotel.

Alastor continued to give muffled whines of pain, which led the women to give some kind of comforting words as they made their way to the hotel.

Angel Dust helped them by keeping an eye for anyone that could be passing by them, and their cautious way managed to get them to the hotel's front door safely.

The moment the trio wound up with Alastor into the hotel's lobby, panic set in very quickly.

Several people ran towards the Radio Demon while others looked on in horror

Alastor was beginning to quite literally unable to take it the pain anymore as he suddenly screamed again though muffled by the gag in his mouth.

The doctors of the hotel quickly ran over and managed to keep Alastor under some kind of control.

Unfortunate witnesses, which included friends and/or acquaintances of Alastor within the hotel, the other hotel staff and sinners attempting to redeem themselves, had to hear the painful guttural screams of the Radio Demon.

The doctors did the best they can, quickly injecting anesthesia and adrenaline into the deer, so that the poor man could get some sort of relief.

Some people were actually crying and others were in shock at the situation in front of them.

Soon enough, the doctors managed to place Alastor into a stretcher and began carrying him to where they could hopefully bring him back to life.

Some tried to follow Alastor, and others were left shaking, all of them unable to tell the answer to the question in their heads.

Will Alastor survive?

* * *

Alastor wasn't sure where he was.

He was in a strange black area. He could see himself, but everything else was a dark pitch black colour. Using his sense of touch, he was able to identify that he was in partially long room, with a bit of a low ceiling.

He looked around for any particular exit, but grasping at the walls, floor and minor scratches to the ceiling would simply lead to nothing.

He lounged around in the cuboid room, waiting for something to happen. But just as he was about to lay down, the sound of static filled the room.

It wasn't too loud, but it definitely caught the Radio Demon's attention, making him stand up.

The static soon fizzled into a radio broadcast recording, in which the announcer's voice finally became coherent.

_"Hello, New Orleans!"_

"Wait a minute." Alastor mumbled.

_"It is your host, Al Astor! With the end of Prohibiton by our lovely folks above, New Orleans has been filled to the brim with unfiltered booze. I am a fan, don't worry."_

Alastor almost stood in awe at what he was hearing.

_"But with our favorite alcoholic beverages, there is also some needed jazz. Here's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, one to cry to!"_

The radio broadcast fizzled out into static, as Alastor remained still.

Now, that was a handful of information, wasn't it?

Alastor knew this, because of two things.

Firstly, Prohibition. This little era that basically banned all alcohol in the United States. While he wasn't the kind that would die for another shot of liquor, he was otherwise alright with the Prohibition, since it was probably the only era in America that realized that alcohol was bad for you. Sure, the mafia and bootlegging existed but Alastor would care less for alcohol.

Secondly, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Sure, it was one of his favorites. It had everything that he would like from a jazz song, and it was a classic in it's own right.

Lastly, but most importantly, both of those things were a huge thing in 1934. But if he was correct, he died in 1933.

There was no way that he was wrong of how he died, right?

He hearkened back to the dream that he had a few days ago. If he didn't die in 1933 and not from a wild dog, then how did he?

But soon, the room suddenly faded into a light grey and he began to feel more awake.

He was either dying or waking up, and Alastor wasn't sure what was worse.

* * *

**Now just a quick side note, I've noticed that there has been alot of Alastor fics, and this is usually with a ship with someone. (Radiodust,Charlastor, RadioShow, etc.)**

**There are fics where Alastor isn't shipped with anyone and has mostly platonic relationships but these are few far and between.**

**So, this fic is one where Al is the main character but he won't have any relationships other than platonic ones.**

**Just throwing that out there.**

**And this will be one a bit longer than my usual ones, so this will be interesting.**

**As always, thanks for reading.**


	4. Quiet Zone

If you had told anyone in Hell, that Alastor was going be on the brink of dying, they would think it would've been from another Overlord he had a grudge on or had a grudge on him.

It almost seemed like the perfect move against the famed demon, choosing an Extermination to take action, and blaming it all on the angels that killed.

But no one could believe that something like it would actually happen, so everyone within the hotel was taking it harshly.

News fortunately spread slowly, so that they weren't a cascade of news reporters waiting to ask what happened.

His radio shows were replaced with previous broadcastings over the decades automatically, making people not really notice that there was nothing wrong.

Alastor remained in the hospital room, a room in the hotel that contained health supplies and medicine for any sick with some very generous demon doctors (that sounds pleasant), they were able to have a steady healing for hotel residents and in this case, Alastor.

Husk and Niffty were worried sick for him, often staying by his side whenever they weren't doing their respective jobs, so Charlie changed their shifts so that they could stay next to him for as long as they want.

Angel Dust and Vaggie were unsure as to what to react other than shocked but they visited the Radio Demon every so often, with them always talking about something. Fortunately, no arguments were exchanged between Vaggie and Alastor

Charlie was probably the one that visited him the least, since the hotel was placed on her responsibility . She handled a lot of the hotel's service and directing the staff for their duties, but this left her very busy.

Somehow, she was able to find some time to finally visit him again for a few hours at most. Charlie was grateful for this, but Alastor wasn't in the best condition.

He somehow retained a soft smirk in his sleep, but once he awoke, the smile was replaced with a face she had never seen.

Seeing Alastor with a neutral expression was something she could imagine but seeing it in person was so unnerving. However, she was beginning to get used to it.

He remained still, almost as if he was paralyzed. His chest was marked with an large red scar that was only noticeable when he didn't have a shirt (or suit) on, which was the case today.

Alastor was staring off into the distance but caught sight of Charlie entering the room.

"Hey, Al." Charlie spoke up, bringing a smirk from the radio host.

"Nice to meet you, dear." Alastor said, in a surprisingly soft voice.

"Sorry, I haven't been able to meet you recently."

"It's alright." he said, bringing a toothy smile out of the demon.

"How have you been?"

"I admit that it's a bit boring but it hurts too much when I move." Alastor remarked, "I wish I can move around to see what was going on."

"Yeah." Charlie said, before gently holding his hand, "But you have to heal. It'll take a while but it's going to be fine."

Alastor remained silent continuing his smile, but the smirk soon faded, unnerving the princess.

"Say, dear, is everything alright?"

Charlie chuckled, "Oh, don't worry, everything is fine. Pretty great actually."

"Oh, thanks.", Alastor said as his smile returned to form.

The conversation was over by this point in time as Alastor seemed to want to rest. Charlie said her goodbyes and left the room.

She just couldn't help but feel bad for him especially what he had gone through.

But she had a hotel to run, and strutted confidently through the hallways.

* * *

Alastor was feeling nothing.

The pure silence of the room, other than when a doctor checks on him every so often, was a calming yet strange sight.

He only needed to sleep when he really was tired especially when energy was used extensively. So, a majority of the time he was stuck in an awaken state.

While it would scare a few unaware people, he had nothing else to do.

Moving his body, such as his limbs or even shifting just a bit to the side of the bed would result in a pure aching pain and he was careful to even touch the stitches.

He wondered how the other Overlords would look at him. Rosie would be as worried sick as Husk and Niffty. The ones he was acquainted with would sympathise with him. The ones he loathed would mock and belittle him.

But other than maybe request a book to read, there was nothing he could do to pass the time.

Alastor only had himself and his shadow, who remained silent.

He sighed as he watched the outside view of the city in the distance through the large window located a few feet away . Nothing was relatively interesting but the fact the Radio Tower was still standing.

But something was off. And that was the injury he sustained.

It was like his chest had been ripped by a chainsaw, which it wasn't, but it was certain that something had hit Alastor.

Surgery on his abdomen only revealed the culprit to be a piece of shrapnel embedded in his collarbone, and quickly dubbed as a tip of an angel spear.

Alastor wasn't sure though, as a spear wouldn't cause this much damage. He grazed the surface of his scar and cringed at the sensation.

But it all led back to Idosing.

Given his memory of Idosing after listening through his album, it was apparent the musician was a well skilled craftsman and presumable blacksmith as well as a hitman for him.

There was a chance that Idosing created a mechanically different kind of spear, broke into the Radio Tower and attacked him.

It seemed far-fetched but it was possible. Alastor almost laughed at it.

He decided to take a small nap since his eyes began to feel heavy staring at the empty room.

But something else was coming around, a memory.

* * *

Alastor found himself in a very bright area.

Neon lights were almost in his face, as the memory managed to manifest. The Radio Demon realized the flashing lights were from a slot machine that he was in front of.

He turned to his left to find that the row of slot machines were completely empty.

"FUCK YOU!"a loud yet incredibly gravely voice was heard almost several rooms away.

Alastor wasn't able to move but he can only turn his head to the direction of the voice. He then soon turned his head to sight of the Jackpot Hotel logo.

_Oh, no._

Soon, the sounds of furniture being thrown were heard. Either someone was really angry or an altercation was going down.

"Husk! Please calm down."

Alastor realized that was actually himself who spoke as his past self came into view, sporting a wavering grin . Husk appeared shortly after with him being in a very aggravated state.

"CALM DOWN?! I ain't having any shit, Al!" the cat demon exclaimed.

"Please we can talk this out, it'll be fine-"

Husk gave a quick slap to his face.

Yes, he slapped him. Alastor couldn't believe what he was seeing. Even his past self shocked at the movement.

**"Get out."** Husk said sternly , his demon form becoming apparent.

"Hu-"

**"GET out."**

His past self vanished with a quick puff of red smoke.

Soon, Alastor realized the scene changed to that of the Radio Tower, with his past self completely distraught.

Was it bad that his first thought was, 'Pathetic.'?

The scene faded to black as his past self buried his face with his hands.

* * *

To be honest, Husk's falling out with him left him incredibly distraught, and had a profound effect on him. Fortunately, he would reconcile a few years later. How exactly, he couldn't pinpoint it as he didn't remember.

Alastor would reemerge from his memory to find himself still in the hospital room, but an eye staring back at him.

He turned his gaze to see the eye only to realized that it was Vaggie sitting next to him. She had the grumpy expression whenever he was around her. He smiled at her, to let her know that he noticed her presence.

"Hello, dear." he said to the moth demon.

"Hi, Alastor." Vaggie said softly.

"How's Charlie?"

"Why are you asking?" Vaggie sneered.

Alastor chuckled, which made the moth demon grazed at his scar which made him yelp in surprise.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?"

The deer laughed again, "You're quite naive even after all these years."

Despite the painful touches of Vaggie, Alastor still smiled. He enjoyed the moth demon in a state of anger seeing him in suffering, and she knew that he liked her suffering, which angered her even more.

"Fine, then." Vaggie said, and let go of Alastor.

The relief that followed was definitely satisfying even if there was a strong numbing sensation.

"I think you look great when you're angry."

"Wha-?"

Alastor chuckled, "If you think that I want to take her away, believe me when I say, you would've been dead a long time ago ."

"So you don't?"

"I don't. I just like to see the both of you flustered."

Vaggie frowned, though out of confusion more than anger.

"I'm... sorry." the moth finally said.

Alastor tilted his head and smirked, "There's the magic words, darling." he said in his charming voice.

Vaggie's face became engulfed in red and she covered her face with her hands. The compliments seemed to be getting to her.

"You bastard." the moth demon finally managed to utter.

Alastor chuckled, "It's my specialty. You're just the same like Charlie in some ways."

Vaggie facepalmed herself, "Okay, I'll leave, this is getting too much for me."

The Radio Demon laughed, "Well, that's fine, you can go."

The moth demon gave the middle finger at Alastor to which he responded back with another. Vaggie then went ahead and exited the room, muttering something to herself in Spanish.

Alastor looked down at his stitches, fortunately there was no damage. He remained still once more.

Shame, it'll be like this for a while.

* * *

**I have a headcanon where Charlie and Vaggie are extremely protective and loyal of each other, and Alastor enjoys making them flustered or embarrassed every now and then.**

**Anyhoo, thanks for reading.**


	5. Signals

"It's time."

Alastor looked at the scene before him. He was sitting at his kitchen table with a serving of shrimp gumbo in front of him. A glass of something in the colour of clear red was placed between him and Idosing, who sat on the opposite corner of the table.

"Why?" past-Alastor said.

"This is not for me, but for you."

"But you leaving will never fix anything."

Alastor couldn't but notice his past self seemed so vulnerable. Almost everything about him was scared, with a hint of sadness. His hair-tuft ears were pressed to his skull with a near pitiful frown plastering his face.

Idosing gave a reassuring smirk, "I don't wish to leave, but I also don't wish to compromise you."

"Our deal is... ?"

"Yes. I think you remember what it is."

Past-Alastor nodded.

Idosing stood up from his chair with past-Alastor following suit. He almost lunged at the zebra demon with a hug, with a yelp coming from the musician. Idosing responded with another hug.

They stayed in that position for a while. Alastor wasn't sure how long it actually was, but it was a near momentful eternity. Alastor soon let go, now with a face of pure sadness. Idosing pointed to the red drink.

"Drink it, and your life starts anew."

Idosing left quickly with past-Alastor looking longingly at the musician exited the Radio Tower.

Alastor glanced at the red drink, picking it up and holding it firmly. Without hesitation, he drank it and to his surprise, present-Al was able to taste it.

It was sweet, but not too terribly sweet. It was tolerable, until something that was tasteless but vile reached his tongue.

He reacted quickly, proceeding to cough the liquid out into a nearby sink. The glass had broken as the remainder of the drink fell into the drain.

Once past-Alastor regained his breath, he laughed.

"Dear Lucifer, what's gotten to me?"

The scene suddenly shifted slowly back into the hospital room to which Alastor groaned.

* * *

"So how are you?"

Alastor was in a much better state than last time, having his stitches removed and a long scar on his abdomen to remind himself of the incident. However, he seemed a bit less pleased with the ordeal.

"I'm fine, darling." he replied to Charlie.

The princess of Hell was almost looming over him as Alastor continue to stare off into the distance. Charlie was with Vaggie, who was leaning against a wall observing the both of them from afar.

"You don't seem fine." Charlie said.

"I assure you, I am fine." Alastor slurred.

Charlie was willing to doubt that statement. She smiled at him hoping for Alastor to make him get something out of him. But the deer demon had no intention of paying any kind of attention to her.

After a while, it was apparent that Alastor wasn't willing to do anything with them. Charlie turned around to Vaggie, who also was noticing the absence of the spark of conversation.

They nodded to each other, ready to leave.

"Charlie." Alastor suddenly said.

The princess of Hell turned around to the Radio Demon, who was reaching his hand out.

"May I request something?" Alastor asked.

"What is it?", Charlie replied, with a hint of 'Finally, something!'

"In my room, there is a record player and.. what are they called? It's something-phones."

"Head-phones?' Vaggie perked up.

"No, something else." Alastor muttered.

"Ear-phones?" Charlie asked.

"That's it. And bring an record for me to listen to." the deer demon replied with a snap of his fingers.

"Oh-kay." Charlie said a bit concerned now, "What is the record you want to listen to?"

"I best describe it.", Alastor mumbled before saying it confidently,

"It's the same shade of red as my hair."

"Why would you-?" Vaggie said.

"Just get it." Alastor said sternly.

"Alright." Charlie stammered.

The couple quickly left the room, with Alastor giving them a bit of side eye.

"What is it with him?" Vaggie mumbled.

"He's Alastor." Charlie replied bluntly.

"Yeah, but why describe the album with it's colour?"

"You ask me."

The trip up the hotel to the Radio Demon's room was purely uneventful, even with the general chaos that ever plagued the establishment.

Once they did reach the room, they did it with caution. You never really knew with Alastor.

Inside was a somewhat unkept room. Several bags of luggage were stacked neatly in the corner of the room, and a few other items, such as books and even a machete.

"Why is there a machete here?" Vaggie asked tensed.

"That's not important now." Charlie said, as she caught sight of the modern record player and earphones.

"I'm still surprised you managed to convince him to use those things." Vaggie said amused.

Alastor was very hostile towards anything that was past his time, such as television (eloquently referred to as 'picture show'), or even any handheld devices. However, the items displayed in front of them were incredibly modern.

When Charlie introduced the Radio Demon to it, he was reluctant to use it, but the moment he tried it, he was hooked.

The record player was a very modern one instead of a gramophone which Alastor would prefer, but he needed to get used to the modern age.

As for the wired earbuds itself, they were the most modern thing in the room. They were the typical headphones used by any teenager. White, simple design and perhaps used a lot.

"Now for the album." Charlie said to Vaggie who pointed to a big box sticking out from underneath the bed.

It was still red tinted colour of Hell, but it seemed so unbelievably out of place. On its lid were the words, 'Extremely fragile, handle with caution.' written in cursive, stretched across it.

"I guess it's in here." Vaggie said.

Crouching down and opening it delicately, the moth demon and the princess of Hell were met with a box filled to the brim with numerous vinyls stacked neatly.

Seeing inside (or at least what was at the top), they noticed some notable jazz musicians, some that were unknown to them and a single album coloured the shade of Al's hair.

The artwork itself was strange. On the right side of the album, a satellite dish was placed. Directly opposite of it was a cloud which rained sideways into the metal structure.

The musician and the album title completely bewildered Charlie.

"Idosing, jazz funeral. All lower case." Charlie read out loud.

"What is a jazz funeral?" Vaggie said.

"A ceremony in New Orleans where they essentially parade when someone dies." Charlie replied.

"Sounds fun."

Vaggie stared at the album as Charlie looked at a pair of speakers that looked quite old. The blonde took noticed that it was one of the first commercial speakers in 1954.

"You know, it's strange." Vaggie spoke up.

"Is it Alastor using post-30s technology?" Charlie replied.

"Yeah, but it's only for music. Which doesn't say he'll use everything modern. It's this album."

"What of it?" Charlie said as she crouched next to Vaggie.

"It's the energy it's giving me. Plus, look at the actual songs on it."

Vaggie said as she turned the album to it's back.

Charlie looked at the songs, only to be confused even more.

"Are these even words?" Charlie mumbled.

"Well, some of them look like the musician just combined words together, but even I'm not sure." Vaggie stated.

Vaggie turned to Charlie," But do you think this from a jazz musician?"

"No? Unless it's recent."

"Only one way to find out."

* * *

_What's taking them so long?_

Alastor remained still, staring at the door, waiting for the couple to arrive.

He always liked them. He never admitted for any affection towards nor any resentment towards them but it was cute seeing them being a couple. Alastor liked Charlie more due to her almost naive yet positive behavior. He would admit that he liked Vaggie as well as but her rage was usually something he had to get past.

But for them to take this long was incredibly out of character.

There was a chance that they would listen to the album which was very likely, and highly worried Alastor.

And when the door creaked open, Alastor was unfortunately confirmed.

"Hey." Vaggie said, as she stood in the doorway, with Charlie clutching the things he needed in her arms.

However, it wasn't anger or rage that held both of their faces, it was more bewildered and shocked.

"May we speak to you?" Charlie said nervously.

"Why?" Alastor asked.

Charlie and Vaggie walked to Alastor, and got a bit too close for comfort. He never liked anyone who invaded his private space without his consent, so he usually did that as a act of what that usually meant to him.

"Alastor, are you okay?" Vaggie asked.

"I'm fine." Alastor mumbled.

"No, are you actually okay?" Charlie asked.

Alastor wasn't sure what to respond. He was in a situation that he would never thought he would be in, but all of his thoughts wanted to say the truth.

He chuckled, "I think I am."

"Al." Charlie said.

The princess of Hell looked at him with worried eyes, probably because she had managed to finally crack past the surface of his smile.

"I don't know."

Alastor turned to the couple, "Why are you asking?"

"This album, is completely unlike you." Vaggie said, "Like you are not really the person who-"

"Likes rock music?" Alastor stated.

The couple looked at each other, before Charlie nodded to Vaggie.

"Do you wish to be alone?" Charlie asked.

Alastor couldn't do anything but nod.

Charlie placed what he wanted on the sidedresser next to him, and the couple left the room shortly after this quickly.

Alastor set up what he needed, and promptly placed the hearing devices into his ears.

_What happens next?_

Alastor carefully placed the vinyl into the record player and let the needle drop.

_What will they think of me?_

He drowned in the cascade of music that blasted into his ears, and pushed back the thoughts that plagued him.

* * *

"In the name of my father, what the hell just happened?" Charlie asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Vaggie hissed.

For context, Vaggie made the decision to listen the album that Alastor requested to bring to him.

Everything about it screamed an energy that contradicted the jazz induced Radio Demon. So, with the headphones available, the moth demon listened to it.

She had laid on the bed as Charlie voluntarily placed the needle onto the vinyl record.

Jarring was a way to describe the album.

It was right in her personal taste of 80s rock music, which was unexpected from Alastor, and a bit modern in terms of music.

But what it was completely terrifying.

The musician blasted through with dissonant electric guitars and thunderous bass and drums. It had the energy of the punk rock but had a near complicated style of instrumentation. She was almost lost in its rhythm.

As quickly as it exploded, it quickly snuffed itself out.

"Vaggie, are you-?" Charlie said.

"In the name of Lucifer, listen to it."

"Wha-"

"Listen to it." Vaggie said as she passed the headphones to Charlie.

Charlie placed the headphones into her ears, and almost jumped out of her skin.

"Woah." she muttered as the music blasted into her ears.

Once she managed to listen to a song, Charlie took off the headphones and stared in awe at Vaggie as she took the vinyl off the record player.

"You take it to Alastor." Vaggie said as she handled the record carefully.

"Yeah." Charlie mumbled.

After their incident, the couple were completely silent throughout the trip to the hospital room.

Alastor was somewhat understanding if not, ashamed of himself.

Charlie and Vaggie were unsure how to respond to him, let alone ask if he was truly right in the head at this point in time.

Then again, who said Alastor was right in the head all the time?

Now, the two were lounging in Charlie's office, almost still. Charlie was busy handling the hotel's management, checking in with the hotel staff via text messaging and phone calls. Vaggie sat at one of the couches in the office, staring at the ceiling fan.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll talk to you later." Charlie said before putting the phone down.

"So..." Charlie spoke up.

"What do we do with Al?" Vaggie said.

"I don't know."

Vaggie knew that Charlie would be somewhat happy if given any information about Alastor that wasn't 'He's terrifying and here's sixty thousand reasons why you should be terrified of him.'.

But given what Alastor had basically handed to them, both of them were completely dumbfounded.

"I have no idea either." Vaggie said.

"I guess we can start with the musician." Charlie perked up.

"I-do-sing?"

"Well, the actual pronunciation is i-doh-sing."

"How do you know that?" Vaggie asked.

"Well, idosing is actually a drug. It's completely audio that meant to induce the same effects as other drugs."

"Really?"

"I wouldn't say that is gospel. There's a lot of debate if it actually qualifies as one in the royal families. But one thing's for sure, idosing is something that's auditory and it's good."

"So, our musician here is named after a drug?"

"Yep. But why Alastor is listening to him is a question that I don't know we'll get the answer to."

"Yeah, but he's right up my alley in musical taste. I'll see if he's available on the Internet then I'll update you."

"Okay." Charlie said enthusiastically.

Vaggie nodded as she walked out of the office, almost joyously.


	6. Frequency Modulation

Angel Dust was unsure what to do with Alastor.

The Radio Demon was now in a state that allowed him to walk but not with relative ease. Alastor was willing to use his staff to support himself, but not all the time.

The spider demon was mostly neutral towards the incident often visiting him in the hospital room. They talked about swing music for the most part and these conversations sparked into the lengthy discussion on which swing musicians either of them should listen to.

But the deer demon was making every attempt to distance himself from everyone within the hotel.

No one knew why in particular this was happening, but Charlie seemed to connect with the fact that Alastor was quite traumatised from the incident.

Plus, they didn't really know who the culprit behind the thing was other than an Exterminator. Exterminations which led to the attacks of Overlords were uncommon but not unheard of.

But usually most Overlords would brush it off, and be humbly reminded of their position in Hell.

Alastor could have been better off and living life as he should but he wasn't.

That's what made everyone so damned worried and Angel Dust wasn't sure on what he could do.

* * *

A knock on his door really didn't set Alastor for what he needed at this point in time.

The deer demon was once again in his room, reading a book. But Alastor only read because he wanted get away from the stream of constant questions that plagued him on his state of well being.

Unfortunately, that stream was right in front of him.

Reluctantly, he opened the door with a soft smile on his face. The guest was surprisingly Charlie.

"Hello, dear." Alastor said.

"Hey."Charlie replied in a cheerful tone.

"What exactly brings you here?" Alastor said as the princess walked into his room.

"Well, I actually wanted to talk about your musician friend." Charlie said as she sat down on his room chair.

"Idosing?"

"Yep. I actually managed to listened to his discography. And it's interesting."

"I thought you were a more classical kind of person?"

"When your girlfriend likes something, it will be your favorite soon."

"And why did you come to see me about it?" Alastor said as he sat on his bed.

"Well, I just want to ask. How did you get to know this musician?"

Alastor almost ran out of the room.

_Should I tell?_

He wasn't exactly sure how it could benefit if he lied, or how it could benefit if he just told the truth.

"I'll admit something that I wouldn't want to." he said finally.

Charlie realized the situation was a bit more serious, and dropped her cheery attitude.

"So, what happened?"

Alastor sighed, "Idosing was someone I met."

"In Hell?"

Alastor nodded.

Charlie looked shocked, "When?"

"Maybe mid 2000s. But I don't remember him, at all. I barely have any memories of him."

"So, what happened to him?"

"He disappeared." Alastor stuttered.

Charlie raised an eyebrow, "How?"

"I don't know. But he seemed close to me."

"How close?" Charlie said with curiousity.

"Maybe... friends at least." Alastor said.

Alastor just realized it but he seemed to be shaking, his legs tapping at a uncontrollable pace. He was breathing a bit more heavily, and his smile was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey." Charlie said.

Alastor looked at her, and she was undoubtedly worried for him. Charlie wasn't sure how but she was willing to help him.

"Charlie, may I ask you to leave?"

The princess of Hell almost looked like she want to say differently, but swallowed down that sentence quickly.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight at dinner." Charlie stated as she stood up and walked out of the room.

With the princess of Hell out of his room, Alastor wanted to cry.

He was almost willing to just lay there for the rest of his eternity, but he barely had time for anything in Hell.

But there was a sense of desire for something. It wasn't hunger nor anger. In fact, it wasn't even sadness.

Without any hesitation, he grew his fingers into sharp talons. And using a bit of delicacy, he reached over to other hand.

Promptly, he cut himself on his arm.

Getting blood was usually a norm for any voodoo ritual or any harm he wanted to give an unfortunate damned soul. It wasn't like it was a disastrous thing to him.

But never was it this _satisfying._

It was still stinging as his arm bled, but it seemed to give some pleasure to him. Not sexually, but just sense of relief.

The weight on his shoulders were partially lifted, but almost brought back as his wound healed itself.

He chuckled, the sense of euphoria was almost addictive. The sense of how he could almost let loose all of his emotions all with a little blood sacrifice.

He could get used to this.

* * *

_1980s_

The 1980s. A decade that can be described as being filled with neon colours, quote on quote 'modernization', and a lot of drugs. A lot.

In Hell, there was still the constant red tint but many other colours on the spectrum were more present. Almost all of Hell was constantly high on drugs or dealing drugs. Alongside that, the Overlords were truly fighting for the place on the top.

However, the more old fashioned demons that weren't exactly keen on being with the new crowd preferring to simply seclude themselves.

Alastor was one of them. However, all for the wrong reasons.

And Niffty found out the hard way.

While she wasn't the most unsociable person in Hell, she didn't go anywhere other than her current place of stay and Alastor's Radio Tower.

Alastor was one of the few nicer people that truly helped her, and he took under his wing, serving as his maid and cleaning service. She was in her routine of going to Alastor's tower and begin cleaning up the place.

"Alastor! I'm here!" she shouted out in the main space at the top.

Normally, he would appear out of nowhere and keep an eye on her as she did her job. But no response either meant Alastor was not around or was busy doing something.

"Alastor?" she said, again no response.

Then, she heard the sound of running water within the kitchen.

"Alastor?"

No response.

Niffty walked into the kitchen to find the Radio Demon standing at his kitchen sink, as water poured down into the drain.

"Alastor? Can you hear me?" Niffty said.

Alastor was completely unaware of her presence, as she jumped up onto the kitchen counter.

Once she was up the counter, she saw that Alastor was standing there only watching the water run into the drain.

He had a blank expression on his face, and by blank that meant there was no smile, just a pure neutral face.

Niffty had seen Alastor without a smile, especially when the demon named Vox rose to power, anger seething through him on multiple occasions.

But seeing in a state of sadness was something completely new to her, which caught her off guard.

"Hello? Alastor?" Niffty called out.

Alastor was barely fazed. Niffty turned off the tap before looking back at Alastor, who noticed her presence.

"Alastor." Niffty said hopefully.

"Hello, Niffty." Alastor deadpanned. He had no enthusiasm behind his voice even with the radio filter.

Niffty had never seen Alastor in a sorry state before, but she gave a bit of comfort as she began cleaning the area.

As she made quick work, Alastor remained still as he sat at his desk, observing the little demon as cleaned the tower.

Once she was done (fairly quickly mind you), Niffty was quick to see Alastor whose face was buried in his hands.

Niffty jumped onto the desk, which alerted Alastor, moving his fingers to reveal his eye.

"Alastor, are you okay?" Niffty asked.

Alastor removed his hands from his face, to reveal that his blank expression and tears running down his cheeks.

He then shook his head.

Niffty was completely unsure on how to react, especially since it was her first time ever seeing a man so vulnerable and scared.

"I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't knowI don't knowIdontknowidontknowidontknow-"

"Alastor?"

The Radio Demon was trembling, and tears were running down his face like rain. His face was plastered with a shaking frown and his hands digging into his scalp, with his ears (or large tufts of hair shaped like ears) pressed against his skull.

Niffty hugged him, or at least as much as she could which was his head, without hesitation and almost jumped at the touch of his cold skin.

It was then and there that Alastor broke down as he began sobbing, painfully cutting into the deep atmosphere.

Niffty remained there clutching Alastor in her arms, as the deer slowly weeped.

* * *

_Present day (202X), Hell_

Husk was either a) downing a nautical ton of alcohol or b) getting his ass kicked in gambling.

However if one was observant, they would notice that he wasn't doing much.

As much as he would hate to admit it, he was worried for Alastor. The deer demon had only been in a state like this when Husk and Alastor had a pretty nasty falling out.

It heavily impacted the deer, but it would take Niffty, time and patience for them to reconcile. Since then, both of them had a more friendly relationship with Husk acting as a old man for Alastor's sake.

But this entire incident was reminding highly of their friendship breakup.

Hence, why he was now outside of Alastor's room. No sound was coming out from it, but everyone agreed that he was inside.

It was time for the dinner reception, which Alastor was always a part of. Not because he could enjoy tasty meals from all kinds of cultures, instead it was to prevent a riot or a very drunkened party.

But even when Alastor wasn't present, it was controllable. Especially with Vaggie around.

Husk quickly knocked the door with his claws but the force was enough to open the door just a bit ajar.

"Alastor?" Husk said as he opened the door.

The hellcat found the deer demon trying to adjust everything about himself in the mirror. His suit, his hair, his shoes, everything.

"You don't have to be perfect, Al." Husk exclaimed as he poked Alastor in the back.

It caught Alastor off guard, but didn't anger him. He turned around, just to reveal a slightly irritated face.

Husk was somewhat worried, Alastor rarely dropped his smile unless he was very angry or depressed. But Alastor was barely smiling now, only having a neutral face.

"Husker, if it weren't for the fact I'm in a better mood now, you would be slapped." Alastor stated through gritted teeth.

"I would still be in a better state than you are." Husk replied.

Alastor didn't have any response, but he seemed flustered as the both of them exited the room and headed to the dining hall.

Husk lazily pranced along the hallways as Alastor seemed to be on edge though confidently strutting.

Alastor was ready to break out in smile at any moment, since nobody truly saw him without it. But Husk was easily getting used to the Radio Demon having a relatively simple face.

"Hey, Alastor." Husk said as he walked beside him.

"Yes?" Alastor said.

"You don't have to smile." Husk reassured.

Alastor's hair tufts were pressed to his skull as he turned to Husk, "I know, but I don't know people there would like it."

"But they know what happened." Husk said.

"Who cares?" Alastor growled.

Alastor was clutching his staff, his knuckles almost turning white as they continued to walk to the dining hall.

Eventually, they reached the destination, with Husk opening the door quickly, and Alastor switching to a soft smile.

The dining hall was the biggest place in the hotel since it was meant hold over several thousand people, and given the fact that the hotel always gave pretty nice food, it was always full.

Alastor was quick to move to where the rest of the staff were sitting as Husk looked across the line of buffets served.

Within a few minutes of arrival, the place was in full swing, people were chatting away and food was consumed quickly.

But numerous demons with some sensibility took notice of Alastor's current state. He remained silent as he ate along, and his bored expression was completely blank.

Husk was relatively okay with the buffet available. Sure, it wasn't Las Vegas, but it was fine.

Once he brought over his pile of food to where Charlie, Angel Dust, Vaggie and Alastor were sitting, he quickly sat down and helped himself.

The other three were happily eating away, but Alastor was absent mindedly eating a bowl of soup.

Husk continued to eat but none of them made any direct conversation to Alastor. They all seemed uncomfortable around him, but they were unsure on how to comfort him.

Charlie and Angel Dust shot some reassuring smirks at him, but it didn't encourage him.

The night barely grazed the grasp of time as the dinner quickly unraveled. Everyone was going to sleep by this point in time, as the hotel staff slowly began cleaning everything.

Alastor remained still as everyone else began cleaning the area. Husk sat next to him, as both of them observed everyone.

"You alright?" Husk asked to Alastor.

"Better." Alastor remarked.

"It's not that bad, Al. But how bad is it for you?" Husk said.

Alastor made no response. He stared off into the distance but Husk noticed the deer's eyes were looking at the door.

"Hey, if you want to go, you can." Husk said reassuringly, bringing a glimmer of joy out of the deer.

"Thank you." Alastor said in a polite tone.

Without hesitation, Alastor exited the area quickly. Husk watched as the deer demon closed the door softly without looking back.

"I don't what to do with him."

Husk turned to the person who said that to find it was Charlie, who stood in front of him.

"Yeah, this is the worst state of Alastor I've seen." Husk said.

"However it may be, I still don't what we can do for him." Charlie said exasperatedly.

Husk took a glance at Niffty who was cleaning as quickly as she usually did, but took note that she wasn't as happy.

_Dear god, Alastor, what's happening?_

* * *

**Not the best, not the worst, but it was fine (by my standards at least).**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	7. Amplified Modulation

Alastor found himself at the top of a lamp post.

"Seriously?" the voice of Idosing echoed loudly.

Alastor looked to the direction of Idosing's voice and found the zebra demon staring up at the tall lamppost somehow still functioning.

At first, he wasn't so sure why he was up there in the first place like a scared cat in a tree until the growl of a canine echoed underneath him.

He was now frozen, his breathing was heavy, and his body was shivering. Alastor wasn't sure why he was afraid of dogs, but he can't avoid the uncomfortable feeling of being around them.

He tightened his grip at the lamp post, and took a glance at the relatively large canine who was growling at him.

"I can't do anything!" Idosing shouted to past-Al.

"Don't you have any food on you?" past-Alastor shouted.

"Do I look like a man that keeps food in his back pocket?" Idosing said irritated.

Alastor whined, but Idosing was willing to pull something else out of his backpocket.

That was when it all clicked.

Idosing pulled out what looked like a revolver, coated in silver linings and aimed it at the canine.

Giving Alastor's information that Idosing could forge angel spears into normal weapons, the onslaught that he could make those things into firearm bullets was a terrifying but near gleeful thought.

But with almost everything that happened recently, it was another blow to the head for him.

"Hey doggy." Idosing suddenly said.

He held the gun almost like a police officer would and aimed at the canine. The dog took a glance at Idosing and almost looked like it was willing to move away.

But everything went wrong.

The unmistakable sound of something sliding down a slippery yet frictious surface meant Alastor was unfortunately faced with a situation almost comical and terrifying.

He was sliding down the lamp post, and the dog seemed eager to get the deer into it's maws.

Without hesitation, Idosing fired, the gunshot echoing deafeningly across the street.

Alastor took a look at the dog which was scurrying off into the distance. He looked in near amazement and relief as he reached the ground.

"Well, that's one way to do it." Alastor stammered.

"Yep. Now, let's have something to eat." Idosing said as he reached out his hand, to help Alastor stand up.

They were quick to act as if nothing happened, as they slowly walked away.

Soon enough, the dream faded into the different one.

He found himself in a street, completely different from the ones in Hell as it had greenery though now fully coloured than the previous dream. This was probably from

Alastor observed the scenery, it was a warm summer day with the small buildings towering over him.

The sound of jazz filled his ears that emanated behind him making him turn around.

Alastor was met with a large parade led by numerous jazz musicians each of them playing to joyous content. Behind them, a parade pranced with glee as they marched down the long street.

The parade passed quickly through him as he was unable to move. But he suddenly trailed behind it without knowing why.

Reluctantly, he walked among the cheery crowd and quickly noticed two people who were not as cheery.

One of the them was a woman in 30s, dark skinned and a bit unenthusiastic even while wearing a brightly coloured dress.

Next to her, a male teenager, possibly eighteen, walked with a bit more enthusiasm albeit it was apparent it was forced.

The teen then turned to Alastor, and smiled.

Alastor was able to see that the boy resembled him. He had the perfect sleaked hair even it was probably gelled, the presence of flamboyance and pride, and of course, a lovely smile that screamed 'You seem nice to kill!'.

But Alastor noticed the tears that filled the teen's eyes yet to be released like a floodgate.

It was then he took notice of someone holding up a decorated picture of man, and it was then he realized the parade was a jazz funeral.

Admittedly, a jazz funeral wasn't the best way to mourn someone. But everyone else seemed to be fine, so why were these people sad?

As the ceremony continued, the teen and the lady were separated through the crowd. Alastor took notice quickly that the teenager was walking away from the crowd.

Alastor had the urge to follow the boy, to which he did. He trailed the teenager as they walked far away form the funeral ceremony and eventually they both entered a relatively decent home within the city.

Unfortunately, as the teen entered his personal room, Alastor was locked out as he attempted to get inside.

The sounds of crying soon emanated from the room and Alastor now was starting to tear up against his will. It wasn't that he was sad, it was just the floodgates that were his eyes just opened up.

Without warning, Alastor woke up.

* * *

Charlie knocked at Alastor's door.

Alastor had seemed to have gotten worse over the past few days. He was sleeping much more often compared to his previous naps. All of his time was spent in his room unless told so.

"Al? Can I speak with you?" Charlie said through the door.

No response. She sighed and pulled out the master key for every room in the hotel. She only used when things were hectic, and when there existed emergencies.

Opening the door, she found Alastor sitting in the corner of his room with his chin in his knees.

Walking to him, Charlie realized he was singing something very softly. It was still with a radio filter, but he seemed completely out of it. His head leaned against the wall.

Crouching beside him, Charlie watched as Alastor sung quietly.

"Hey, Al?" Charlie said, bringing his attention to her.

Alastor looked he barely got any sleep with dark bags under his eyes, his smile was now a thing in the past and his body looked tired.

"Hello." Alastor said, unenthusiastically.

"Hey, Al." Charlie said, almost the same way as she entered.

Charlie knew that she needed to help Alastor but he wasn't willing to accept help and everyone was unsure how they could help him.

"If you want to talk to me, do it some other time." Alastor suddenly said and leaned his head against the wall again.

"No, Alastor." Charlie said quickly and sternly.

Without warning, radio static filled the air. Suddenly, Alastor lunged at Charlie, grabbing her throat and pinning her to the floor.

Charlie was ready to fight back, but Alastor was obviously much stronger.

He had her pinned to the floor, making her a bit vulnerable. Strangely, Alastor had his fist in the air, ready to punch her into oblivion. Charlie closed her eyes and braced for it, but it never came.

Instead, what seemed to be a drop of water landed on her cheek.

Opening her eyes, she saw Alastor crying above her, his tears splashing onto her face. He was trembling, his hands shaking almost unable to support himself.

Alastor suddenly jumped back, and he quickly backed himself into the farthest corner of the room. Charlie managed to get onto her feet, as Alastor quickly hid away into the corner.

"Al, I need you-" Charlie stammered.

She stopped upon realizing that Alastor was very quiet, and was trembling intensely.

"Alastor?"

Charlie slowly walked towards him as he remained within the corner of the room. As she got closer, Charlie realized that Alastor was softly singing something again albeit strained.

_"And if when I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay, you minimize my movement anyway."_ Alastor sung.

Charlie crouched down in front of him as he sang.

_"I must persuade you another way."_

"Al?"

Alastor turned to look at her. He had dried tears across his cheeks as he tried muster enough courage to speak.

"I'm sorry." Alastor slurred.

Charlie nodded to him, as Alastor wiped the tears away and stop trembling.

"Al, I want to help you but you have to let us help you." Charlie said. Alastor gave no response as he remained still. Charlie tried to reach out to touch him but he inched further away.

"Alastor." Charlie said.

"I'm sorry." Alastor said more coherently.

"You don't have to apologize."

"I'm s-sorry."

"Al-."

"I'm sorry! For anything I have done, anything that I did to you. I'm sorry!" Alastor exclaiming, with him beginning to sob again and he lunged at her with a hug.

Charlie didn't know how she could react but she quickly responded with another hug.

"It's going to be alright, Alastor, it'll be alright."

"No!" Alastor said as he pushed himself away, "It won't be alright! I-I have to serve for my sins."

He shifted one of his hand's fingers into talons, and Charlie instantly what was going to happen.

"Alastor." Charlie grabbed at both of his arms, "You do not do that."

"S-shut up!" the deer shouted, and swung a hand at Charlie.

Those sharp claws wound up connecting with the princess's face and she dropped onto the floor with a painful sensation in her cheek.

She attempted to stand up but Alastor suddenly kicked her across the floor and out of his room.

Charlie made one more attempt to stand up and nearly managed to do so until she was hit by something, directly to her forehead, and dropped back down.

She finally managed to gain her composure the moment the blows stopped. It led to some painful memories, but she managed to finally get back on her feet.

The princess was quite literally outside of Alastor's suite. The master key was still within her possession but the deer was obviously not in the mood to talk to her.

She felt something dropped on her foot and realized it was blood. A few cuts to the cheeks probably from Alastor's sharp claws. Her head throbbed in pain but Charlie managed to walk away if not a bit damaged.

_Dammit, Al. Why is this happening?_

* * *

Alastor forced himself to remain calm.

He seemed to have overreacted to what Charlie tried to do and he was heavily regretting it. Alastor was unsure why he did so.

His arm bled as he used his talons to cut into it just several moments after his incident. Blood poured across the suite floor as he continued relieve his stress.

Alastor hated himself, but this self harming stunt was a way to help him curb his emotions. Whether or not, it was truly helpful to him was a debate that continued within his mind.

As his wounds healed, he stayed sat down next to his window. Alastor wasn't sure what to do other than lay down.

He looked over to his shadow which was sat down next to him.

It was still quiet, but he could see that it seemed to be shaking and was ready to breakdown at any moment.

Alastor mustered enough strength to stand up and walked to his bed. His thoughts were a jumbled mess as laid down in the soft mattress.

He could sleep, but he couldn't.

With everything that had happened over the past few months, Alastor was thinking the after effects of this event.

He concluded that Idosing, a person he thought was dead or gone, came back and proceeded to shoot him from afar which would lead Alastor into a personal hell of sorts in recency.

But each of his thoughts all led to one single question.

_What would they think of me?_

The sense of being reacted negatively by his fellow Overlords and even his friends at the hotel because of his recent behaviour was something he wanted to not happen but couldn't stop thinking about it.

The thought of someone kicking him off the Overlord power rank or even being getting ousted from the hotel was a near terrifying thought for him.

But that seemed so exaggerated. There was no chance that it would actually happen. However, Alastor kept imagining it whenever he was within his room.

This insecurity was eating away at Alastor and he was unsure on how to face it. The line between what would be great for him and things that would detrimental to him was very blurry.

He remember what Charlie said, the comforting words that soothed him. Before he wound up ruining that moment.

He glanced around the room, just to make sure nobody else saw him in his state. He didn't want anyone else other than the hotel staff to see him.

Fortunately, there was no one.

Alastor sighed once more as he closed his eyes, hoping for sleep to take him.

* * *

**Props if you know the song I used.**

**Anyways,thanks for reading.**


	8. Digital Audio Broadcasting

Alastor didn't dream this time.

As he managed to bring himself out of unconsciousness, the sounds of rain pattering against the window got his attention.

He sat up in his bed as he watched the raindrops slam against the glass window. He remained there until he was truly awake.

The last time he was awake led to a pretty rough incident with Charlie. Harming her was never his intention unless he wanted to die at the hands of her father.

But his fate seemed sealed. Alastor just wanted to run away from everyone, and wait for all of it to boil over.

However, Hell isn't the place for forgiveness (with the exception of the Hotel, of course). Alastor wasn't sure what to do other than just get out of his room.

He stood up and quickly shed the clothes that he had wearing, swapping out for fresh set of attire. He didn't want to look so posh, but ironed out his suit and slacks quickly just in case. Once he felt ready, he grabbed his microphone staff and walked out of the room.

Speaking of the microphone staff, it was very neglected in recent times. Fortunately, it was an inanimate object so there was no particular worries.

As he walked through the halls of the hotel, those who were able to see him took notice that Alastor was no longer smiling. He barely cared to even attempt to cheer up, or even give a sense of enthusiasm.

Alastor barely took any care to do anything about them but noted of the existence of the gossip.

By chance, he reached the front door of the hotel. He looked at the bar where Husk would be but he wasn't present at the moment.

He really wanted to leave but due to the stormy weather, if he were to now, he would have his clothing ruined.

Now, he had to go back to his personal room and grab an umbrella.

Since he knew his way throughout the hotel, it was relatively easy to find the fastest way to get to his suite.

Without any distractions, other than the gossip surrounding him, he managed to return with a dark red umbrella.

Opening it up and carrying it up above himself as he walked out of the hotel, Alastor was partially dry as the sound of rain dropped onto the umbrella like bullets against metal.

He strolled to Pentagram City as the rain continued to pelter the red urban landscape.

Alastor never truly cared for the city as he could simply prance around without worrying about being attacked by random demons.

But when it was raining, it was a bit more beautiful even with the knowledge that this was where sinners were punished.

As the Radio Demon continued to walk around, he noticed that there were a lot more people who took notice that he were not smiling. He saw an imp demon couple whispering amongst themselves, possibly about him.

Alastor mostly ignored the attention he was getting, but that didn't mean he cared. He was a bit insecure as whenever made any eye contact with anyone, he would flash a small smirk towards them.

The rain continued to pour as Alastor walked around the city. He passed places he was familiar such Rosie's emporium and a few notable businesses around the area.

Somehow, he managed to wind up back to his Radio Tower. He hadn't checked the place out via teleportation or by means of walking. With some hesitation, he entered it.

He glanced at the machines that made the maze to the his personal space.

As he scaled the spiral staircase, he wondered if he could continue his radio shows. They were always forced since he wanted to give an honest show. But nowadays, only a few people would listen.

Eventually, he reached the top.

There was the desk he always placed his microphone to talk during the late night and the numerous recordings stuffed in the archives that were the walls that always played whenever he didn't feel like making a show in particular or just whenever he was busy.

He walked up to his window to see the city skyline once more. It was still raining but a bit less now. Pentagram City may be a city that was full of sinners, but sometimes it was pretty.

That moment died the second Alastor heard a faint chuckle from the corner of the giant room.

He turned around, and faced the direct direction the laughter came from. The response was a flickering screen and a face grinning menacingly at him.

"Vox." Alastor said through gritted teeth.

Alastor wasn't the most hostile towards other Overlords except for Vox. The TV demon wasn't the bane of his existence but put them both in a room and there was a 110% chance of them trying to kill each other.

To be honest, Vox wasn't the worst Overlord within Hell but he was definitely one of the more worser ones out there.

But Alastor wasn't sure why he was doing there.

* * *

Alastor hated him to the very core as the television head demon strutted lazily to the deer demon.

"Well, well, well. Nice to meet you." Vox said.

Alastor turned his eyes away from him as Vox managed to get closer.

"Now, Al. It appears you've been gone for a long time." Vox stated bluntly.

Alastor looked confused and muttered, "What?"

"I have known you since the 1950s, so I know your little tricks."

Vox moved a bit closer and Alastor managed to distance himself the same amount of distance.

"You happen to replay your broadcasts, don't you?"

Alastor wasn't shocked, "If you pay enough attention." he said with disgust.

"And when that happens, something is so, so wrong?"

Almost everything went to Hell (figuratively). Alastor was noticeably angry, but he was very noticeably restraining himself. Vox took note and gave a small coy smirk at him.

Alastor wasn't smiling by any means, having a pure scowl and fists clenched even with the fact that he was facing one of his foes.

Something was wrong, but Alastor didn't care.

In fact, when Vox looked closer, Alastor looked ready to burst into tears.

"It seems the situation is a bit more serious than I thought." Vox said in a sarcastic detective-like voice.

"Shut up." Alastor mumbled through radio static.

Vox walked to the Radio Demon, who froze the moment he made a step. He smiled, as he got close to Alastor.

"Look at you, you seem to have had a rough time, eh? All these years, this is what you are now? One of the infamous Overlords now looks like a complete disappointment to every one of them-!"

Just before Vox could even barely finish his sentence, Alastor jumped at him and gave a quick punch to his face, leaving his screen cracked.

He took a glance at Alastor, who had no hesitation in doing any violence. However, he was full of pure unbridled rage as he went for another hit.

Vox was knocked back to the floor as Alastor kicked him in the chest. Just as he was about to stand up, the deer dropped onto him and grabbed him by the throat. Without any hesitation, no smile and no radio filter, Alastor stated sternly a single word:

_"Périr."_

Vox was then pummeled with Alastor's bare fists, purely unhinged as the deer demon gave blow after blow to the television demon. Each blow landed somewhere on his television head and it cracked like nothing.

Somewhere at the back of his mind, Vox knew that this was completely out of character for Alastor. But it was hard to think as someone is pummeling your head.

Out of desperation, Vox tried to loosen the grip of Alastor's hand around his throat. But this only led Alastor to just get even angrier.

But just as it quickly as it began, it quickly ended with Alastor letting out a strained scream and falling back onto the floor.

If there's one thing he was grateful in Hell, Vox would say it was the enchanted automatic healing that Hell offered. It healed whatever wound given to him meaning you could torture a person for eternity and avoid death unless angel spears were involved.

Once his screen was fixed, Vox stood up and walked over to the deer demon who laid in a fetal position on the floor.

Alastor was opening those floodgates that were his eyes as tears poured down his face. He didn't notice Vox who was now standing over him.

Vox wasn't sure what to do, other than stare at Alastor.

Alastor noticed Vox standing over him and quickly clutched the back of his head and braced for anything from him.

He was mumbling something, but Vox couldn't quite make it out.

However, a simple thought came to his mind. Alastor had never been this vulnerable, meaning if he wanted to give him a taste of his medicine, it was now.

Without any second thoughts, Vox gave a hard kick to Alastor's back sending the deer into the desk.

Alastor wasn't caught off guard by it but it sent him reeling and attentive of what Vox wanted to do.

Vox was about to give the Radio Demon what for, until Alastor said something that would change that.

"Mercy!"

Alastor was terrified, his body was trembling as he attempted defend himself from Vox. His face was that of an animal trying not to die. His eyes were wide and full of fear as Vox got closer.

Vox wasn't about to give a damn but he had to take notice of Alastor's cowardice.

"Sorry, Al." Vox said as he raised his fist, "It's showtime."

* * *

_Where the hell is he?_

The people present, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, Niffty and of course, Husk were all sitting at the bar of the hotel.

While the bar wasn't the most suitable for a place like this, it still had plenty of customers after they replaced the beverages with ones that weren't alcoholic.

Husk was the one that mostly ran the place, but they were a few imp demons that helped managed it whenever he was busy.

Currently, everyone that was running the hotel was drinking their beverages. Niffty was drinking a glass of water, while Charlie and Vaggie were sharing a root beer float. Angel Dust was eating another popsicle, as Husk tapped his fingers on the counter.

However, if there was something off, it was the presence of Alastor.

As according to the workers, he had exited the hotel several hours prior. He hadn't come back however, even when the rain stopped. Husk was very worried for him and he could tell Niffty was too. Vaggie seemed to be a bit more edge too but Husk didn't think much of it.

They were all unnerved after Charlie told about her recent encounter with Alastor. Vaggie was obviously angry and wanted kill Alastor the moment she saw him. Everyone else was unsure on what to do, but once calming Vaggie down, they were still befuddled of what to do with Alastor.

Soon enough, the door of the hotel opened with the Radio Demon entering the establishment.

He still looked worse for wear but it was easy to tell that he had been in a fight of some sort and he had cried a plenty just after. He brandished his microphone staff and a umbrella as he stared at the rest of the hotel staff.

Husk and Niffty gave a small smile to cheer him up and Angel Dust nodded to him. However, Vaggie squinted her eyes and Charlie tried to avoid eye contact.

Alastor gave no response instead walking quickly past them and to his suite presumably.

"I gonna follow him." Husk said suddenly.

Charlie looked at him, "You sure?"

"I'm sure." Husk stated.

Everyone nodded at him, prompting him to stand up and start walking to Alastor's suite.

Husk eventually reached Alastor's room fairly quickly. He knocked at the door, though admittedly not expecting an answer.

To his surprise, Alastor opened the door and peaked out to see who it was. Upon seeing Husk, he opened the dor wider and invited him in.

The hellcat went inside the room and quickly sat down on the room chair as Alastor closed the door.

"Husker, I'm sorry with what I did to Charlie." Alastor said as he limped forward to his friend.

"Say it to her." Husk said bluntly.

Alastor looked dejected as he sat down on his bed, facing Husk. He barely even looked happy and there was not even a glimmer of that old personality within him. He looked at Husk, as a way to say 'What do you want me to do?'.

"Alastor, I want you to tell me something." Husk said.

Husk let out a few slow breaths before managing to get the words out of his throat, "What happened while you were out?"

Alastor looked away from Husk, but still faced him as he thinked.

"I went to the Radio Tower and met Vox."

"Vox?" Husk hissed.

Vox and Alastor were very hateful towards each other. Primarily because they were drastically moving people in Hell and the television vs. radio schtick that happened during the 50s. It was nasty, until Vox won and Alastor fell down the pyramid of power.

"You fought him?" Husk asked.

"Yes." Alastor said embarassed.

"Did you win?" Husk asked a bit more harshly.

"I think I did. I did the first attack, and I just broke down." Alastor sighed, "He then attacked me, and then.."

Alastor clutched his head, "I just went all out."

"How badly?" Husk stammered.

"I just didn't care. I left him there after I..."

Alastor went silent. Husk wasn't so sure if it was because he didn't want to say about it or Al didn't remember it.

"How are you now?" Husk finally said.

"I'm not sure anymore." Alastor murmured.

Alastor wasn't willing to talk about what he could do to for them. His feet tapped against the floor as he sat there with Husk now trying to get into a more comfortable position on the chair.

Both of them weren't willing to talk about anything. Alastor kept looking at Husk and at the door to his suite.

"Husker, may I ask you to do something?"

Husk grunted as he managed to get to a regular sitting position,

"Yes, Alastor?"

"Can we head to the bar?"

Husk probably looked a bit more bewildered than he should've been but he was happy that Alastor finally got somewhere.

"Hey, if you want to, then let's go now."

"Sure." Alastor said now with a faint smile.

* * *

By some miracle, Alastor was now at the hotel bar.

He was simply talking to Husk, albeit it was small talk and nothing too interesting. Husk basically gave him some drinks as they sat and observed around the lobby.

Charlie heard about through one of the other bartenders who had finished their shift. Once she knew about it, she was a bit reassured as Alastor was a bit more sociable.

However, as soon as that bartender left, her phone began ringing. Picking it up and looking at it, she was surprised that it came from her father. He barely called her at least unless when there wasn't anything important going on.

However, if he was calling, she should answer. Without hesitation, Charlie answered the call.

"Hi, Dad." she said enthusiastically.

"Charlie." Lucifer said roughly.

Well, Charlie dropped any kind of happiness the moment her father spoke.

"Charlie, I need you to be frank with me." Lucifer breathed in, "Did Alastor happened to attack you?"

"Yes?" Charlie stated hesitantly.

The call probably would've ended right then and there if it weren't Lucifer's breathing being audible.

"Are you okay?" Lucifer finally said.

"Yes, Dad, I am. But Alastor isn't."

"Tell me why."

The princess of Hell sighed,"During the Extermination, Alastor got attacked by something. He was just badly hurt and just in pain and.."

Charlie couldn't bring herself to talk about the screaming that happened just after they wound up rescuing him. It reminded her of the incident that happened prior to them which was a whole other mess.

"Go on." Lucifer managed to say.

"Where was I? Oh, yes. We did managed to heal him but then he just became reclusive. I don't know why, I've never seen him like this before, but Husk and Niffty said that something like this happened decades ago."

"Hm, and then?"

Charlie prepared herself for what she was about to say.

"I've been trying to reach out to Alastor, but I've found out some things about him. Apparently, he's been listening to rock, and I'm still unsure if the musician even exists. And when I've started to ask more.."

"He attacked you?"

"I tried to confront about him a few days ago, and he wasn't in the mood to talk. He lunged at me at first but he stopped himself. He hid in the corner of his room, and he started apologizing profusely then.."

Charlie almost wanted to get angry with what happened next, but she had to do it unfortunately.

"Alastor said he had to serve for his sins and then shifted his fingers into claws and I knew what he wanted to do and I tried to stop him, but.."

Charlie touched her cheek, where Alastor slashed her.

"He managed to kick me out of the room, which reminded me of.."

"Charlie..." Lucifer trailed off.

"And after he attacked me, he just became even more reclusive. Al's sorry about the whole situation but he's not willing to meet me and.." Charlie sighed, "I just don't know how I can help him. It just hurts me to see him like this but I can't do anything about it."

Charlie gave another sigh, "That's all."

"Charlie, I'm coming over." Lucifer managed to reply quickly.

"Huh?"

"I'll be there in a few days."

"O-okay." Charlie said, nervous.

The call ended without any more conversation. Charlie slumped against the wall as she wondered about the conversation with her father.

Lucifer wasn't the most evil demon in Hell, but he was the very King of Hell and the first fallen angel, that she knew of. While she was knowledgeable of her father, Charlie knew that he was quite nice when he wanted to (always around his wife and child) and very cruel when around the rest of the demons in Hell.

But Lucifer was very harsh around the Overlords more specifically towards Alastor due to a multitude of reasons, one of them being around his daughter.

Charlie knew this wasn't going to end well for Alastor but she couldn't stop her father with just the power of sympathy.

However, there was only one way she could find out. She just had to wait for her father to come.

_Oh, Al. If only I could help you._

* * *

**Personally satisfied with this chapter, but I have some plans for Al.**

**Thanks for reading, amigo.**


	9. Jammer

**Is it just me or am I just writing these chapters really fast?**

**But, anyway, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Charlie paced around the front of the hotel.

With the visit of Lucifer to see her, she was insanely worried about it. Since the point of the visit was to see Alastor on the subject of his attack on her.

Speaking of Alastor, he seemed a bit more sociable but only around Husk and Niffty. He was still unwilling to face Charlie and Vaggie but he looked a smidge better than previously.

Charlie then heard the sound of a car pulling up to the hotel driveway and quickly saw a dark red muscle car driving up to her.

She knew that Lucifer had arrived.

The moment the car stopped at the front of the hotel, the rear door opened to reveal the ruler of Hell who then stepped out of the vehicle.

Lucifer wasn't exactly the most menacing person in Hell especially with contrasting tone of white that was quite notable from the red aesthetic of Hell. He was a bit shorter than Charlie but he looked quite similar to her from the appearance.

In terms of their relationship, Lucifer wasn't exactly keen on her idea of rehabilitating demons at first. However, he remained supportive of her idea once it proved to be successful. They remain on good terms even with some arguments.

Lucifer's chauffeur (presumably) quickly left the area as he faced his daughter.

"Hello." Charlie muttered with a smile.

Lucifer gave a smile towards her as he walked into the hotel lobby.

He observed the lobby as Charlie entered the hotel herself. The demons who were present mumbled amongst each other as Lucifer looked around.

"A bar doesn't seem fitting for a place like this." Lucifer finally said.

"Yeah, well.." Charlie said as she was beside her father,"..admittedly it only serves non-alcoholic beverages and we have a strict alcohol rule in our hotel so.."

"I see." Lucifer said.

Lucifer took particular interest in the numerous amenities within the hotel as they made their way to Alastor's suite. Since her father had never been inside the hotel before, Charlie was helpful to introduce the hotel's features to her father.

However, it was noticeable that Charlie was trying to delay the journey to the destination her father had in mind. Despite this,

Lucifer was more than keen to just follow his daughter's tour. They managed to visit the dining hall, the staff rooms and her personal office. Lucifer and Charlie kept smiling and talking throughout the trip.

But soon, they reached the sixth floor, where Alastor's room was.

"Charlie, I want to be alone when I'm in there." Lucifer said.

Charlie stopped and so did Lucifer, as they stood outside Alastor's door.

"Look, Alastor is in a very bad state. I just don't want you to kill him." Charlie said.

"I won't kill him, but I have to see for myself."

"Alright." Charlie murmured.

Reluctantly, she opened the door. And Lucifer promptly entered the room. Charlie saw Alastor staring outside of his window, peeking into the room.

Lucifer gave one last grin at her before shutting the door slowly.

With the door shut,Charlie leaned against the door slowly, almost praying for her father to spare her friend.

* * *

"I knew you'd be here soon."

Lucifer turned to Alastor who faced the window, "Your guess was correct."

Lucifer looked around the room. It was a bit clean, but it was noticable that Alastor had been here for a while. His luggage was a mess around the room and a box stuck out from under the bed.

As for Alastor himself, he looked much more skinnier than he remembered. He also looked tired, almost as if he barely slept. He looked half finished in terms of clothing, having only a shirt and a pair of slacks on. His body seemed to be trembling, as the Radio Demon turned around to face Lucifer.

Lucifer wasn't expecting a happy Alastor, but he wasn't expecting an Alastor that looked very depressed.

He had bags under his eyes, and a neutral face even with the piercing red eyes. Alastor's body posture looked scared, even embarassed to face Lucifer.

"I'm very,very sorry." Alastor said.

Lucifer didn't really like that statement, but he was too shocked looking on how Alastor just was.

"What happened to you?" Lucifer stammered, baffled.

Alastor, for some reason, started unbuttoning his shirt. Lucifer wasn't sure why, nor did he want to ask why, but as soon as Alastor finished, he moved the shirt placket to reveal his chest.

Lucifer was shocked to see a long scar starting from his stomach to the top right corner of his chest. It was recent, as he could the redness from afar.

"I wish I could tell you how I got this. It was either an Exterminator, or something much more personal to me." Alastor said, as he began buttoning up his shirt.

"It doesn't seem like it would've been a problem to you." Lucifer said as he began getting closer to Alastor.

"I know, but I've been having problems thinking coherently and everything is hitting harder for me." Alastor sighed, "Something is wrong with me, but I don't know what it is."

Lucifer gave a smile to him, "Well, maybe it's because you haven't killed anyone?"

"I don't feel like doing that." Alastor said.

Alastor sat down on his bed as Lucifer stood over looking around.

He took notice of the box that stuck out from under the bed. He bent down to open the box as Alastor observed him.

Opening it, he was surprised to find several vinyl records stacked neatly inside of the box. He took one out to observe it.

"Is this what you've been doing? Listening to old jazz records?" Lucifer said.

"Yes." Alastor slurred.

Placing the vinyl back into the box, Lucifer stood up to face the Radio Demon.

"But I'm not hear to discuss your musical taste." Lucifer said.

Alastor looked terrified as Lucifer stood up.

"Your apology tells me you are genuinely sorry." Lucifer stated.

Without hesitation, he grabbed Alastor's neck and pinned him to his bed, then began choking him.

"**But you attacked my daughter.**" Lucifer said bluntly.

Alastor tried to say something, but the hand around his throat wasn't letting him. Lucifer was starting to show his demon form, which made the Radio Demon tremble.

"**_And for that, you shall pay._**" Lucifer said as he began to choke Alastor harder with both of his hands, smiling widely.

"So, kill me." Alastor managed to spill out.

All of Lucifer's initial anger subsided and he dropped his smile, as Alastor became submissive to his whims. He held Lucifer's hands in place, as he finally smiled, finding a sense of relief.

"Fine, then." Lucifer said once more with a grin, "Let's give you what you deserve."

Being a fallen angel, he still had his angel spear, thus he could manifest it with ease. He let go of one of his hands using it to summon the weapon. Once in his grasp,it shined beautifully within the light. Alastor was surprised at first but he was still pleased.

Lucifer was somewhat impressed of the situation he found himself in. Sitting on top of Alastor on his suite bed, all while choking him and wielding a spear at his chin.

Alastor was gleeful to have his throat slit, but Lucifer knew that giving it to him wasn't the best thing nor it was a must.

The ruler carefully removed his grasp from the Radio Demon and stood up from Alastor although he still pointed the spear at him.

"What?" Alastor suddenly said.

"Look here, Alastor. I would love to harm you in many ways but it would be saddening to see." Lucifer chuckled, "I'd prefer to see you like this."

Alastor sat up in shock as he tried to fathom what had just happened. He sat there staring at the spear as his face shifted from shock to disappointed.

Lucifer quickly teleported the spear far from where they were as Alastor mustered the strength to stand up and face the ruler of Hell.

"Why?" he asked.

"Dad? Is everything alright?" Charlie's voice suddenly boomed from the other side of the door.

"Yes, darling." Lucifer replied loudly before walking towards Alastor.

Lucifer sighed, "I think that you could be better if you just talk to everyone here. Charlie and company wants to help you, but you don't seem to be letting them."

"I don't know what's wrong with me." Alastor said.

"If you talk to them, they can find out what's wrong with you." Lucifer said.

Alastor remained silent, but nodded to the ruler.

Then, without warning, Alastor dropped onto the floor with a thud.

As he laid there, he seemed to twitch each passing second. His face remained blank but his eyes were wide open. Lucifer was barely able to react until his daughter perked up.

"Dad?!" Charlie said suddenly.

He quickly opened the suite door to see his daughter, Charlie and her girlfriend Vaggie standing outside. They peeked in, to see Alastor and their eyes went wide.

"No, Charlie, it isn't." Lucifer stammered.

* * *

Alastor soon found himself on the floor somewhere else.

Mustering the strength to stand up, he realized he was in the black room again.

He still had the strange dream of what he could assume to be his past life's radio transmission buried into his mind. However, he never understood why he was here once more.

As he traced around the room, time seemed to be non-existant as he continued be in the space.

After asserting that the place was not too different, Alastor sat down on the floor. He tried to think of why he was here again.

He wanted to wait for a radio broadcast to suddenly pop out into his ears but as the minutes passed, there didn't seem to be a chance.

Alastor felt tears run down his cheeks again but as he tried to wipe them away, he touched dry skin.

_I guess I'm crying, physically._

He put himself into the corner of the room as he continued to wait.

He had nothing to do other than sit there.

_Dammit, why am I like this?_, he mentally scolded himself.

It wasn't like he desperately needed anything. He only wanted to be alone and other than cutting himself, he wanted to be alone.

He felt insecure and scared of the outside world of Hell. Alastor didn't want anyone to see him in his current state, nor did he want anyone to find out how he wound up like that.

He almost laughed as he realized all of his worries were once again focused on the integrity of self image. But even with that, it still hurt him to the core.

Alastor managed to smirk a bit, as the darkness enveloped him.

* * *

**As stated in the last chapter, I have some plans for Al. But it'll be a while before we get there. And when we reach that stop, well..**

**Thanks for reading, amigo.**


	10. Multiplexing

"Hypoglycemia?"

Alastor collapsed suddenly whilst talking to her father, Lucifer. Now, he was back in the hospital room, unconscious.

The doctors were able to treat him quickly , and were now talking to the hotel staff about the situation.

Lucifer and Vaggie conversed amongst each other while the rest of them, Angel Dust, Husk and Niffty, remained silent as Charlie talked to one of the doctors .

"So, with the current state of him, how long do you think it would take for him to wake up?" Charlie asked.

"Possibly around a few hours at least, or a few days at most." the doctor said.

"I see."

As they weren't able to visit him just yet, the gang were forced to leave the area.

The hotel staff quickly went back to their respective jobs while Charlie sent Lucifer to the front of the hotel .

"I wasn't expecting him to pass out." Lucifer said as they arrived at the lobby.

"Yeah, but I think that you knocked some sense into him." Charlie said.

"You heard it?"

"It's easy to hear through the doors." Charlie remarked.

"I see." Lucifer mumbled.

Soon enough, Lucifer's chauffeur arrived and he quickly entered the vehicle giving her one last nod and wave before he shut the door and disappeared in a flash .

Charlie kept smiling as she entered back into the hotel. But the smile faded the moment she was out of view.

Once she managed to reach her office, she heaved a huge sigh of relief.

* * *

By some miracle, Alastor was quickly discharged from the hospital just a day after going into a catatonic state.

Vaggie and Charlie made the decision to confront the deer demon once he was at least out of healing.

But Alastor wasn't having it.

It wasn't that he didn't want to meet them. It was more that he straight up disappeared from everyone.

However, it was apparent that the Radio Demon didn't leave the vicinity of the establishment. Witnesses had confirmed that he did not leave by the numerous doorways within the hotel.

So, the couple had to find him.

They tried to find him in his suite but it was vacant say for the luggage. They then tried to find him in all of the hotel amenities such as the dining hall and even the bar.

"Where is he?" Vaggie said out loud as the two walked around the one of upper floors of the hotel.

"If we have to guess, where would the last place Alastor would be?" Charlie said.

"Is there a basement in this hotel?" Vaggie questioned.

"Well, yes. Though it's locked shut." Charlie said.

Then, Charlie stopped dead in her tracks. Vaggie came to a halt following this and took notice of her girlfriend's pale face.

"Charlie, what is it?" Vaggie stated.

"The roof." Charlie spilled out.

Vaggie's eyes went wide and without hesitation, both of them sprinted for the nearest staircase. They tried to be as fast as they could as they scaled the stairs hastily.

The hotel had at least 30+ floors and they were about third-quarters of the way to the top. While it was easier to use the elevator, waiting for it would be tedious and there was no way to head to the roof with the elevator.

The roof is about as bland as you think it was. Traces of the ventilation and air conditioning systems and the hotel's neon sign on the far end. Some of the hotel workers that were up here for maintenance could see the height of the building if they dared to look down.

Once the couple were on the roof, quite tired from their sprint, they finally saw Alastor.

He was wearing quite jarring attire for a change. A hoodie and a pair of jet black slacks weren't the usual dress code for the dapper demon, but he was wearing it. Alongside that, he was wearing a pair of sneakers. If it weren't for the fact that the deer ear-like hair tufts, Alastor looked like the average teenager.

He sat at the edge of the hotel that had the sign brandished in front. The deer peered down the building in between the sign and the technical walls.

"Al!" Charlie shouted.

Alastor turned to look at them and their hearts dropped.

His face was almost recognizable with the unending no presence of the trademark smile, those piercing red eyes and the absence of his monocle.

The deer demon remained still as the couple slowly inched their way to him, but they didn't move any closer.

"Alastor?" Vaggie said.

"Why?"

Alastor said that single word without any kind of radio filter and without any kind of enthusiasm .

"Al..." Charlie began.

"Why do you want me?" Alastor said once more.

Alastor moved back a bit, getting precariously closer to the edge of the building. Charlie and Vaggie almost leapt at that moment, but stopped once Alastor heaved a hesitant sigh.

"Alastor. I want you to come to me." Charlie asked politely.

Vaggie turned to her and shook her head, signifying that what she wanted wasn't going to work in her favor. Charlie took notice and quickly dropped the idea she had.

The deer demon suddenly sat down and slammed down on to the concrete. He laid down in a fetal position at first before laying down flat.

They remained cautious as Charlie and Vaggie approached Alastor laying face down and the one thing they did notice was that there was a deer tail sticking out from the bottom of Alastor's shirt.

"Alastor?" Charlie said as she and Vaggie sat on either side of Alastor.

The Radio Demon remained still but his head was facing to the side that Charlie was on. He didn't want to say anything or at least what he had said before to other people.

The princess knew that Alastor was genuinely sorry for what he did to Charlie as evidenced by his talk with Lucifer. But he didn't have the courage to say it to her.

It was obvious that Alastor didn't want to face Vaggie especially since she was usually the one that would be angry towards him if he even touched her significant other.

"Al, I know that you're sorry." Vaggie said, "And I forgive you, in a way."

Alastor turned his head to her, though gave no response of sorts other than a blank facial expression.

"Me too." Charlie stated, "I'll always forgive you since what happened."

The deer had turned to face Charlie and he gave the faint sense of enthusiasm to her.

"See? I know you're sorry, but if this happens again, just tell us what you're feeling. Talk to us."

Alastor finally smirked but it was lost instantly when he suddenly yelped and jolted a bit forward.

Charlie looked over at Vaggie who was tugging at the deer's demon tail.

"Vaggie!" Charlie hissed.

"Sorry, I'm just curious." Vaggie said coyly before tugging Alastor's tail again. Alastor yelped once more, though somehow cutely.

"Vaggie, stop!" Charlie hissed again.

Vaggie did stop, quickly letting go of Alastor's tail.

"Sorry, Al."

Alastor gave a whine (of sorts) in response. He rolled over facing up and sat up, which made the couple turned to his direction.

The deer demon held his head with his hand and turned stiff.

"I'm sorry." Alastor said, now with a radio filter.

"We get it." the couple said at the same time.

Once Alastor seemed to have calmed down, they remained there staring across the city skyline . The view was beautiful, but Charlie and Vaggie noticed that the deer demon kept observing around the city .

"Let's go." Alastor said suddenly.

The Radio Demon stood up and quickly walked to the door back down. The couple followed suit, though completely unsure why he was going back.

And he disappeared again once they reached the staircase.

* * *

Alastor was in a strange place mentally.

He was now a bit tolerable towards the hotel staff since they have now forgiven him for his actions. Everything was going alright for him and he could pick himself up from his fall, figuratively and literally.

The doctors suggested that he take care of himself by hopefully eating and not dying from sugar crashes.

However, there was this nagging question at the back of his head which was of his personal background.

Alastor didn't truly knew himself other than his enjoyments and his looks. For some strange reasons, he wanted to know more about himself.

Alongside that, he also felt the same way about his strange musician friend, Idosing.

He had spent quite a lot of time listening to the musician's entire discography within his personal possession . Sure, he enjoyed it but he was now tolerable towards it instead of being impressed .

Idosing was interesting but Alastor couldn't get past the hooks and melodies if he tried to understand the dictionary-in-a-blender lyrics. He didn't get anything from the music.

Despite this, he wanted to know more.

Everything about this seemed to stem from the musician. Just after he discovered Idosing's albums, he was suddenly attacked. This was just the beginning of the downhill spiral that was Alastor's mental breakdown.

Whatever it was, he wanted answers. But the question was, should he look for them?

As he laid down on his suite bed, he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue to mope around for sympathy. Alastor needed to do something that could help him.

The Radio Demon was unsure where he could go to other than ask for help. But this situation was something completely different than anything he had ever done.

But he knew that it was necessary in a sense. He hasn't been able to think straight about what he should do, but if this is where he was deciding what was best for him...

Alastor groaned as he tried to find a comfortable position in bed before settling on just being sprawled across its length.

He sighed the moment he managed to get comfortable. His eyes were getting heavy and soon enough, he was out cold.

And unfortunately, this nap will lead to a dream.

Alastor found himself in his Radio Tower. It was obvious that it was a more recent arrangement of the workspace and a calendar was placed on his desk saying that it was 2008 .

His past self was reading a few pieces of paper with a blank expression on his face. It was most likely script drafts for some radio segments.

"I don't think these would work for me." past-Al mumbled.

"You alright?" Idosing suddenly shouted.

"I'm fine!" Alastor shouted back, "Just unsure on these scripts."

The zebra demon popped out of the kitchen with a book clutched in between his hands. He walked over to the Radio Demon and glanced at the papers in the deer's hands.

"The cooking stuff would work for you." Idosing said.

"Do you think Hell would like old New Orleans recipes?" Alastor said.

"Well, just use meat from the bodies of lesser demons. That would make it more interesting."

Alastor perked up at that statement. He did cooking for as long as he could remember but only started broadcasting cooking New Orleans cuisines with the insides of a demon recently. He couldn't exactly pinpoint when he started it but if Idosing was the one who suggested it then he was surprised.

"Thanks." past-Alastor stated.

Alastor looked at Idosing and took notice of the book he was reading.

"What kind of book are you reading?" Alastor said a bit dejectedly .

"Dante's Divine Comedy." Idosing said bluntly .

"What?"

"An old Italian story about a guy's ascension to heaven through hell and purgatory."

Past-Alastor was silent about this, even present-Al was unsure on how to react.

He never read this book but if Idosing had plans similar to this story, it would've been strange especially this was pre-Hotel days .

"Do you ever wonder if there is a border to Hell?"

Alastor turned to Idosing, who remained intent on the book he was reading.

"No...,so why are you asking?" Alastor stated.

"Theoretically , if according to my readings, Hell might have a border that separates heaven and hell. Some say it's Purgatory, some say it's Limbo."

"Do you want to go there?" Alastor murmured.

Idosing gave no response. Alastor wasn't so sure on how he managed to remember this memory but if this was the answer he needed, he was willing to take it .

Alastor was completely shocked as Idosing turned the pages of the book. He wasn't sure if trying to find the very edge of Hell was the best decision for him. But it seemed to call to him.

The deer suddenly shifted to slowly wrap his arms around the musician.

"What the-?" Idosing mumbled.

He tightened his grip, completely unwilling to let go of him.

"Alright, alright, ace of spades." Idosing said.

The dream faded to black as Alastor began to awaken.

It was night and dark, but after stretching and crawling out of bed, he managed to get the lights in his room on.

Alastor was completely unsure on how to think about his recent dream. It somehow gave him the information he needed completely coincidentally, and the deer demon felt a bit relieved .

He made the decision to just make a cup of coffee for himself.

With the fortunate hotel food and dishes already available in the suite itself, he was able to make a cup pretty quickly.

He practically inhaled the scalding bitter beverage, the moment it was ready within the cup. Sure, it burned his throat and tongue but it was how he preferred it.

He finished it as quickly as he made it almost like a shot of liquor. Alastor gave a satisfied sigh as he looked at a picture that was on the hotel desk.

Walking over for a closer look, he realized it was one of the pictures of the staff together every year or so. They took them annually and usually went well with each of them smiling happily.

This one was taken two years after the hotel began operation and where they had the most employees. He could recognise some employees who were quite good at their jobs before making the decision to be rehabilitated. However, it was technically their worst year but he shook off that thought almost immediately.

Alastor looked at the past self of him, smiling enthusiastically. It looked so long ago, especially with recent events.

He looked at the rest of the gang, who were smiling along side him other than Husk who remained his grumpy self.

Alastor was beginning to doubt if he could go on his personal journey without notifying his friends. If he were to inform them about it, they would most likely not allow him because of his state of mind. Even if they allowed him, some of them would follow him and some would stay at the hotel which would be high risk for them and the hotel.

_Do I go, alone?_

The problem was that it was most suitable solution for what he wanted to do. He couldn't think of any other way of going at it.

But at the cost of leaving his friends?

Alastor placed the cup in his hands on the desk and truly observed the picture. He didn't want to hurt the feelings of the hotel staff because of him going away.

He sat down on his bed and clutched his head, trying to think of how he could handle this situation. But he knew that it was the best decision for him.

"Whatever it takes." Alastor said to himself as he stood up and looked outside his room window.

"Whatever it damn takes."


	11. Closing Track

Alastor had the plan set.

While one would call him a bit paranoid or a bit crazy to go with what he wanted to do, he knew that it was the best decision.

He had packed all of his luggage except for one, which was at least a few days worth of clothes. With some voodoo etchings into his suitcases, he put the ones he didn't need now in a place nobody knew with the snap of his fingers.

He knew that supplies were necessary and Alastor had secretly stocked up on water and food rations for a few weeks at least. The journey was going to be long and painful.

Nobody had caught on what he wanted to do, but he remained cautious and discreet whenever he had to get something necessary for the journey.

Alastor really didn't wish it was going to end up like this but he had give a reason for why he was leaving.

Today was the day he wanted to get the problem over and done with.

He slowly ironed one of the many suits he had so that he could be presentable for the last time.

The warmth of the shirt and pants against his skin was comforting but he still felt sadness of the situation.

Once he managed to get himself ready, he exited his suite, microphone staff in hand.

The hotel seemed to have gotten used to Alastor's isolation and nobody was even getting any idea of what he was going to do. He walked down the halls, observing the place for what may be his last time.

He passed by the dining hall, which was holding a lunch service at the moment.

Alastor stopped at the entrance, glancing in. There wasn't much people inside but everyone that ran the hotel was there. Charlie, Vaggie, Husk, Niffty and Angel Dust were busy eating at one of the tables. Guests were present but it didn't fill the entire hall up.

_Is this the last time I'll see them?_

The thought made him think to join them.

The Radio Demon walked into the hall, getting some eyes on him. He nodded towards the demon heading the hall at the front, notifying that he was going to have some food.

He pranced towards the buffet available. It wasn't much but he knew that the serving would still be great. He gave a small glance towards the other staff. Alastor wound up making eye contact with Husk who gave a smirk to him.

Alastor only took the ones that he could eat quite quickly. Once he got everything he wanted, he walked over to the table where the gang were sitting.

"Al!" Charlie called.

He smiled at her and everyone else as he sat down and joined them.

While what followed soon after was a blur, he enjoyed the moment. They were laughing, smiling and overall having a good time. They ate happily and everyone was joking around, though no food was being thrown.

But Alastor still felt sad, even though he smiled and kept talking like his usual self. Especially since this may be the last time he'll be with them.

_I'll miss you people._

* * *

After the luncheon, Alastor managed to get out of the hotel.

Fortunately, he was still posh enough to not get any odd looks for his attire.

As he walked towards his destination, Alastor smiled as he was a bit in a good mood. Demons were quickly noticing that he was smiling and mostly avoided the deer demon.

Despite this, he still felt a tinge of sadness. His shadow showed this unfortunately, with the eyes being depressed. But this was overshadowed by the faint smile.

Alastor finally reached where he wanted to be, the Radio Tower.

Once he walked past the shelves and up the spiral staircase, he was inside his workspace.

Alastor took a deep breath, and placed the microphone staff on his desk. He then began one of the things he wanted to do: Clean the area.

Since he wanted to be discreet enough, he cleaned the workspace himself. His bedroom, kitchen and other small corners he could reach. All of his items would be placed in the secret place, for safe keeping.

Alastor was able to clean the place much faster than he anticipated. By the end of it, he was only sweating a little.

However, the next thing he needed to do was a bit harder.

The Radio Demon walked over to his desk and grabbed his microphone staff. It's eye manifested and gave him a somewhat sad look at him. He sighed in response.

He promptly sat down on the chair at his desk. He took a look around the space. It looked...barren. But he wanted it that way.

_Now some adjustments._

If there's one thing you would think Alastor was capable of, it was anything involving radio shows. He had made his career entirely based on the radio show and occasional drama.

But if he wanted to go, it was going to stop.

Once he made his changes, he propped his staff so that it could be used as a microphone.

Alastor took one last breath of relief, before he began.

"Test, test. One, two, three."

* * *

Alastor arrived at the hotel just an hour before night.

Nobody was suspecting anything, so he was able to handle the last part now.

He was managed to get into his suite just as the hotel closed down for the day. The supplies necessary were all stuffed in a pretty big backpack. Alastor knew that he had about a small span of time to get out with everything he had to bring out.

While he could easily delay the plan to a later date, Alastor just had a fiery feeling to get out as soon as he can. His room was already empty with the exception of the backpack needed for his journey.

Alastor looked around for any voodoo etchings in the hotel suite he had made. His voodoo engravings into landmarks can make him teleport if there existed two of them in different locations.

However, in the years he stayed here, Alastor had not made any kind of etchings because it was more entertaining to walk than just teleport with ease.

Making his fingers into talons, he carved a symbol into the underside of the desk where nobody in particular would look for it.

He lounged around in the room as he waited for midnight.

To pass the time, Alastor quickly changed into the attire he wanted to use for the trek.

While it was unclear on where the border of Hell technically was, he knew that the safest way he could go to was the desert.

A trek across would take several weeks and months, and with the environment of Hell always trying to kill you, it was going to be dangerous.

Obviously, a suit wasn't going to work. So, he settled on a hoodie, a pair of black slacks, a facial mask, dark sunglasses, and a dark brown cap. While it would look stupid in his terms, Alastor had to wear it.

The clock next to him was only at 10pm, but he was getting antsy.

He wanted to leave now, but he couldn't.

He sighed, and checked the supplies he had. His eyes went wide the moment he saw the machete.

It's white glow on the metal nearly made him faint. He recognized what kind of material the weapon was made out of.

He quickly made the decision to rearrange the supplies so that the machete was easy to grab in hand, and everything else was an afterthought if he was in danger.

_How did I not notice it?_

He wasn't so sure why he didn't take notice of the weapon. But it was possibly because he never cared for angel spears in the first place.

But that interest only started because of Idosing.

Alastor thought about the whole point of this journey. To find that damned zebra demon.

Oh, what torture he would like to invoke onto the man. The thoughts of the ways he could do it were pure ecstasy and made him smile.

However, he knew that Idosing had a myriad of weapons that could kill him. But he knew that not everything could protect the zebra demon.

Alastor took a glance at the clock which was now thirty minutes to midnight.

It was risky to leave now, but he wanted to. He went to his bathroom and faced his mirror. He tried to push down his hair so that nobody would recognize him. He pushed by the fringe of his hair back and pressed his ears down to his head. He kept it all down with the dark black cap. It managed to fit, hiding the ear-tufts and antlers.

Looking at himself, he looked stupid. But it was required to wear it so that he could be stealthy.

He put on the other gear to his body. The facial mask, the sunglasses and cap completely covered his face. He put the hood over his head and he barely looked like himself.

He glanced at the clock and it was midnight. Exiting the bathroom and entering the main room. He picked up the bag on the floor and put it on his shoulders. He slowly exited his room, and shut the door, leaving the key inside.

Alastor walked swiftly to one of the emergency staircases and walked down to the ground floor. His footsteps echoed a bit but he remained quiet.

He couldn't get out via the front door so he went out through one of the fire exits. Alastor found himself outside and paced peacefully to the front of the hotel.

Nobody was at the front at this time, so that the deer wasn't going to get any odd looks.

He looked at the hotel. It's misshapen structure was menacing and calming at the same time. He gave a sigh almost on the verge of tears and turned away.

Alastor pranced around the edge of the city. Everyone was asleep other than a few nocturnal demons. Some took glances at him, but nobody particularly cared.

Soon enough, the desert was just in front of him. It was time.

Alastor walked towards the sandy landscape. Sand shifted every time he stepped. Before long, he was in the midst of the desert.

He walked for a while before scaling a particular large dune. He could see a few other much taller ones but he wanted to see from this one.

Once at the top, Alastor faced the city. It's skyline was still as menacing as ever but he knew this was the last time he'll see the place.

He gave a small smirk to himself before walking into the unknown thinking one last thought.

_I'll miss you all._


	12. This Station is Non-Operational

Another day, another time to get themselves ready.

Charlie woke up quite early at about six in the morning and the rest of the hotel staff would wake just an hour later.

The hotel would begin to set themselves up. Stocking up on food and beverages, cleaning vacant rooms, giving guest already in the hotel their daily rehabilitation program and opening the front doors to invite new patients in.

But as the hotel operated for at least a few hours, they took notice of the absence of someone.

The princess went ahead to Alastor's suite. She knew that Alastor would at least hang around the hotel for a while before he would wind up within his room again.

However, as she knocked on the door to the room, there was no response. She attempted to get louder, knocking more harshly before deciding to simply open the door with the master key.

But she was greeted with an empty room.

And by empty, it was completely devoid of any kind of signs of life. It looked ready for a brand new guest to come in.

So, where was the previous one?

Charlie scoured the room for any kind of trace of Alastor. She was already scared the moment she even looked into the room, but that fear grew in intensity as she began to realize that Alastor was truly gone.

She immediately sprinted towards her office and pulled out her phone in the midst of doing so, texting in the hotel staff group chat.

"urgent emergency meeting. meet in office immediately."

The moment she burst into the office, Vaggie and Angel Dust were already waiting for her.

"Charlie? What's wrong?" Vaggie asked.

"Al's gone." Charlie blurted out.

"Wha?" Angel Dust muttered.

"He's gone. He's fucking gone." Charlie stuttered obviously panicked, "I thought that he would be, I thought-"

Vaggie quickly wrapped Charlie into a hug, "It's gonna be okay, babe. Just calm down."

Charlie let out some strained breaths, when the rest of the hotel staff came in which included Husk and Niffty.

"What's wrong?" Husk said first.

"Alastor's MIA." Angel Dust said sternly.

"What?"

"Look around the hotel, check every room for him." Vaggie commanded to which the hotel staff obliged.

_That was the first spark._

* * *

Lucifer took notice of Alastor's radio station.

It was playing a soft jazz melody, something he was fine by, but it was just that. A lovely jazz tune playing indefinitely. He tried to see if there was any kind of secret message but nothing came of it.

He made the decision to head to the Radio Tower, somewhere he was certain that Alastor would be just to make sure that he wasn't doing anything suspicious.

Imagine his surprise to find Rosie directly outside of the Radio Demon's personal space.

"Hello, Ms. Rosie." Lucifer said as he saw the Overlord staring up at the tower.

"Hello, Your Majesty." the woman stated as she saw the ruler walked up next to her.

"Are you here to see Alastor?" Rosie perked up.

"Yes, actually, and I assume that you are too?"

"The radio station was playing a jazz tune on repeat for several hours now, and I thought that I could see what was going on."

"Well, let's go then." Lucifer said as he opened the door to the Tower.

In the midst of the archives of tapes, there was a single metal staircase in the centre where it would lead up into Alastor's private area. Both of them had been inside the Radio Tower so it was easy to navigate the place swiftly.

However, as they reached the top, they were surprised.

It was still spacious as ever but it was obvious that the space had been cleared up. There was still furniture but there was no such small items within the vicinity.

"Alastor? Are you there?" Lucifer called out, but was only met with his own echo.

"Where is he?" Rosie asked.

The ruler of Hell suddenly felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. Taking it out, he saw that it was a phone call from his daughter, Charlie.

He answered it quickly, "Hello?"

"Dad, have you seen where Alastor is?" Charlie responded immediately.

"No. Why?"

"He's gone. Alastor's fucking gone." Charlie said, panicked.

Lucifer shut off the call once he heard those words.

"Is there a problem?" Rosie asked.

"Yes." Lucifer turned to face her, "The Radio Demon's missing."

_That was the breaking point._

* * *

"This just in, 666 News. The infamous Radio Demon known as Alastor has suddenly gone missing. Reports stated that-"

"Alastor, the infamous Overlord known as the Radio Demon has suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances.-"

"He suddenly went missing from his last known location, the Hazbin Hotel, presumably last night-"

"We are currently unable, to answer all of your questions. The Hotel and even the royal families are discussing this as we speak-"

"With that fuckhead gone, I think we can live in peace."

If you want the definition of spreading like wildfire, the state of Hell the moment word spread of Alastor being MIA was the epitome of that statement.

Countless people attempted to take advantage of the situation. Sinners defaced the deer's face wherever present, media outlets tried to get the latest scoop and the hotel was all caught in the middle.

You see, with Alastor gone, this essentially meant the Hazbin Hotel was completely vulnerable. However, Lucifer quickly stepped up to fill in that gap because of the gravity of the situation.

Flocks of reporters attempted to interview anyone even related to the hotel, and this led to some pretty hefty brawls.

But even then, nobody in Hell knew where Alastor actually was.

No such information on where the Radio Demon's current location or where he was heading was remotely available.

The only person who knew of Alastor's location was Alastor himself.

Hours turned to days, and the sudden hype of Alastor's disappearance was starting to diminish.

The hotel staff had done their best to keep everything related to Alastor under wraps because the moment new info popped up, Hell would attempt to capitalize on it like rabid dogs.

Until at least something completely different happened.

It all started with Alastor's radio station.

At first it was the simplistic jazz tune that constantly played over the course of the insanity that went through the days.

But on this particular day, at around an hour after everyone would awake from slumber, the tune began to head into a crescendo.

After the long buildup, it suddenly cut off, leaving the sound of radio static.

"Test, test, one, two, three." Alastor's voice suddenly boomed.

The second that happened, everyone quickly got their attention to the radio station.

But it was followed by several seconds of silence. You could tell Alastor was there, as you could hear him tapping his fingers on his table, but there was nothing else.

"Where do I even begin?" Alastor mumbled, possibly to himself.

He let out a breath, and everyone could tell that he was even hesitant to talk on the radio. By this time, everyone knew that this was a recording he made prior to his disappearance.

"By the time you're hearing, I'm gone or dead even."

For the first time, Hell heard the Radio Demon sound, depressed.

There was no sense of enthusiasm and charisma in his voice. If the deer demon wanted to go away for a while, he'd probably make a show out of it, and tell with the biggest sense of confidence.

This? This showed that wherever Alastor was going, he knew he might not come back.

"I'll be going somewhere where no demon has gone before. Well, maybe Lucifer, but I'm pretty sure Lucifer hasn't gone there." he said with a hint of that old enthusiasm.

He adjusted something next to him before going to his next point,

"There's a high chance, you'll never see me again. So, this will be my goodbye, to all of you."

He cleared his throat, "To my fellow Overlords, I'm sure you can go on without me. But I'm also sure you will never forget about me. Make sure you don't."

"To the hotel, I'm very sorry for this and anything else I have done wrong. I sincerely wish you the best of luck for the upcoming years."

"And to those who have known me and those listening today.."

"Thank you so, so much for tuning in."

* * *

**And... that's where we'll end.**

**Yeaaaa...**

**I admit I initially had no plan of cutting this story into parts, but the next part of this story was going to be quite big and completely different from this story's core arc. (No spoiling here.)**

**Hopefully you'll enjoyed. Thanks for reading, amigo.**

**Stay tuned for the next part!**


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